Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Learning to Like Spicier Food: Can people train themselves to tolerate heat?
The Atlantic ^ | February 23, 2015 | Brent Crane

Posted on 03/01/2015 10:47:08 AM PST by PJ-Comix

A couple of years ago I was out to lunch in Bangkok at a cafeteria-style restaurant with communal tables. I had ordered one of my favorite dishes, larb moo, minced pork with peppers and spices. A few bites in I started to feel the heat. About a minute later my mouth was in full emergency mode. Bright red and with sweat pouring from my forehead, I began chugging down one bottled water after another. My Thai tablemates watched in obvious amusement. Several were also eating the larb moo, yet clearly weren’t feeling the heat to the degree that I was. Why?

“We know that when you eat spicy food over and over again, it does actually start to burn less,” says John Hayes, director of the Sensory Evaluation Center, a research facility at Pennsylvania State University that studies the relationships between food and the senses. “The reason that I might use a lot more Sriracha than you is because I could be desensitized and actually perceive less burn from it.”

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: ethnic; peppers; spicyfood
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-134 next last
To: PJ-Comix; JRandomFreeper

I love spicy foods, and I do believe they are good for you.

There are plenty of chickens and eggs available to eat in the country-I’ve never cared for either one without hot peppers sliced up on the eggs or chicken-I like the taste of serranos with eggs.

I grow my own peppers, like my mom and aunts did/do on the ranch-I’m particularly fond of growing chili pequins to put in everything from vinegar sauce for steamed greens to pots of beef stew. Unlike so many hot peppers, the bushes will tolerate temperatures down to the mid-20’s, which happens at least a few times in winter out here.


61 posted on 03/01/2015 11:50:20 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

Once all the nerve endings in your mouth have been burned away it’s not hot at all.


62 posted on 03/01/2015 11:57:47 AM PST by Hugin ("Do yourself a favor--first thing, get a firearm!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

Taco Bell mild sauce is almost too hot for me. After my throat surgery for sleep apnea, I even have a hard time with spicy chicken.


63 posted on 03/01/2015 11:57:48 AM PST by taxcontrol
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

> Bright red and with sweat pouring from my forehead, I began chugging down one bottled water after another

If they’re smart, they charged more for the water than the food.


64 posted on 03/01/2015 11:57:59 AM PST by ArcadeQuarters ("Immigration Reform" is ballot stuffing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

PJ what happened to the Dummie Funnies?
What happened to Charles?

This new overly moderated Free Republic shut you down?
I MISS you guys....


65 posted on 03/01/2015 12:02:57 PM PST by mowowie (`)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ROCKLOBSTER
I have an excellent immune system and a nettie pot.

My eyes water at the sight of jalapeno peppers...and my jaws lock! :)

66 posted on 03/01/2015 12:04:52 PM PST by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: MomwithHope

That small jar would be what I put on a hamburger if they are sliced like that.

The amount of peppers in the large jar made into relish would go on a burger.


67 posted on 03/01/2015 12:05:23 PM PST by IMR 4350
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

I like my ladies like my food, The spicier the better...


68 posted on 03/01/2015 12:05:31 PM PST by mowowie (`)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: beelzepug

**Dave’s is killer! Use discretion. ***
Funny story from our plant.

Someone was using up all our personal bottles of hot sauce so I brought some DAVE’S and left it in the refrigerator. Everyone knew just how hot it really was and no one would touch it. Even the Mexican workers who tried it would throw their burritos in the trash after one bite. It was too hot even for them.
One day the new Shift supervisor went to get his lunch and noticed the bottle.
“Hm, someone brought something new!”
The other man set him up.
“Yeah, that’s good stuff, you aught to try it.”

As they prepared their lunches, the Supervisor sat down with my bottle of Dave’s, opened a bowl of rice pilaf, and proceeded to pour the sauce on like it was Tobasco, thick.

He did not notice the ENTIRE lunchroom had stopped what they were doing and were ALL watching him.

Then he took a bite...and knew he had been had!

Another incident. Some other worker was bragging about how he liked hot sauce so I broke out my bottle of Dave’s.

He said “I can handle that!” and proceeded to pour out an inch long strip on his index finger and before I could yell “Don’t do it!” he popped it into his mouth.
He sat there with a smile on his face, slowly turned RED, sweat began to pour off him but he never broke his smile even though tears were flowing down his cheeks.


69 posted on 03/01/2015 12:05:54 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

I think that there is an hereditary feature in the ability to tolerate and even like foods with hot peppers incorporated in them. My wife does not like salsa yet my daughter does and did right from the start. (I’ve always liked it right from the time I first tasted it circa 1950.)


70 posted on 03/01/2015 12:05:57 PM PST by AEMILIUS PAULUS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IMR 4350

Oy! The juice is just as hot as the peppers.


71 posted on 03/01/2015 12:09:40 PM PST by MomwithHope (Please support efforts in your state for an Article 5 convention.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Aliska

I don’t know why they want to cover up the taste of their food with that stuff..... In 1968 for Christmas, my mother sent me a bottle of Tobasco by request. We were eating WWII C-rats and I couldn’t ingest another can of the crap without the Tobasco. Other guys borrowed more from me and it was a weekly request for my family. My young niece actually saved her babysitting money and sent me a box of 24 tiny bottles of about 2 0z.(?) and a silver neck chain with a silver screw cap. My Tobasco was always close to my heart.


72 posted on 03/01/2015 12:10:40 PM PST by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: mowowie

I still do them but I got a bit frustrated at the pearl clutching four asterisk routine.


73 posted on 03/01/2015 12:13:47 PM PST by PJ-Comix (Coakley/Gruber 2016!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: rockrr

This thread made me hungry. We buy the thick ground beef patties from Costco. I love their burger.

I put a fried patty on a plate and nothing else. I then started putting drops of Tabasco sauce (red) on each bite. a bit more sauce with each bite. Just for fun, I sprinkled ground cinnamon on each bite with the Tabasco sauce. LOL

My wife thinks I am nuts, but I think I found another way to eat burger. ;>)


74 posted on 03/01/2015 12:14:11 PM PST by Gator113 (Cruz, Lee, and Sessions speak for me.... most anyone else is just noise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

Trust me on this:

The best all-purpose hot sauce is Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot Habanero Sauce. Not a mouth scorcher but full of flavor.I use it on everything. Give it a try!!!


75 posted on 03/01/2015 12:21:44 PM PST by szweig (HYHEY!! (Have You Had Enough Yet))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

I have made extra room in my garden this year for the three hottest peppers on earth...Trinidad Scorpion Moruga, Carolina Reaper, and Jigsaw...burns at both ends, baby! (As other posters have noted, they are good for your health...)


76 posted on 03/01/2015 12:22:01 PM PST by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MomwithHope

The juice is good on any kind of leafy greens.


77 posted on 03/01/2015 12:23:18 PM PST by IMR 4350
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
I began chugging down one bottled water after another.

BAD idea.

78 posted on 03/01/2015 12:23:26 PM PST by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
Ah yes, recently finished my breakfast of scrambled eggs with diced habaneros and jalapenos. Nice bite but wife would not touch it. She just does not understand that habaneros and breakfast were a match made in heaven.

Not for wimps, of course.

79 posted on 03/01/2015 12:26:54 PM PST by doorgunner69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: who knows what evil?

Water spreads the heat.Have a jug of milk handy.


80 posted on 03/01/2015 12:27:12 PM PST by szweig (HYHEY!! (Have You Had Enough Yet))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-134 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson