this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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People that make hot sauce eating into a competitive spectacle are the problem.
I grew up eating hot foods. I found that if you’re ever discovered eating unusually hot foods by a lot of people you end up becoming “that person who eats spicy stuff” and you get pushed to eat spicier and spicier things as people try to break you. It’s miserable.
It’s not about where your tolerance is at, but your comfort level. My tolerance is high but I’m not going all the way up to go to it, I’ll stay down in my comfort level. My comfort level is higher than many peoples’ tolerance, but I don’t get showy about it. There is a group at work of people who one up eachother with spicy foods. Most of what they have looks pretty weak. I eat homemade tteokbokki that probably crushes most of their sauces, but I’ll never let them know. I don’t want them bringing me synthetic, flavorless pain sauces.
There’s no point in eating something that’s painful to you.
I hope I don't get too annoying about it, but the times I am vocal about spicy food is basically every time I go out to eat at a "spicy" restaurant (Thai, Tex-Mex, etc.). I absolutely despise choosing the spiciest thing on the menu ("4/4 habaneros! get the kiss of death with this extra-spicy sauce!") and then it turns out the plate has maybe 2 mL of regular tabasco and/or a couple Jalapeños, well below my comfort level or my "yummy, spice!" level.
Every once in a blue moon though you'll find a place that has actually spicy food (either by mistake or recent immigrants who don't quite understand yet that many Belgians' tolerance stops at garlic and pepper, which is not an exaggeration), and it's the best thing ever. But everyone I'm going out with usually complains that it's too spicy... Can't win. I just wish restaurants would actually advertise rough Scoville units or something, rather than useless arbitrary scales.
It's the age old problem of appealing to your audience. A restaurant gotta carve a niche, or adapt. My favourite thai in Annecy ended up taking away a lot of the Thai coriander and bean shoots because the average person in town didn't aporeciate the flavours.
And if you don't speak the language they probably won't serve you spice anyway, because they know the average idiot doesn't know how strong the real stuff gets. Side-note : watching my Chinese wife argue with a Vietnamese chef to serve her more spice was hilarious. He definitely used the European spice scale. She never wants to eat there again, even though it's one of the too few Asians in town.
On the other hand, if you get lucky, you'll find something like "Deux Fois Plus de Piment" in Paris where last time I went they had a warning literally telling you that string spicy food can give you diarrhea if you're not used to it, and your sinuses instantly unblock as you step inside. I knew I had to take my chinese wife there once I found the place, even though the place tested both our limits :,D
If you find a place like that, praise them, let them know, and defend them at all cost, is all I'm saying.