
post
That reminds me of an anecdote.
When I lived in Utah many years ago, we regularly had the visit of two colleagues from our London office. They would come and stay for a few days to work with us, and of course we entertained them in the evening.
One evening, we all decided to go for a curry. So we went to some Indian restaurant in Provo, UT if memory serves.
The waiters arrived - real Indians in full fake Raj regalia, as per the restaurant's theme - and took our orders.
Then they asked how spicy. The two Brits looked at each other and said in a low voice "Well, it's Utah, everything is bland here, so we'd better overdo it on the spiciness to get something halfway as spicy as a London curry."
So they announced "Nuclear."
"Are you sure?" the waiters said
"Yeah yeah. Nuclear!"
"Okay...."
15 minutes later, the waiters came back with our orders. Then instead of leaving, they turned and faced the two Brits and simply stood there with a total lack of expression on their faces.
The two went "Uh oh..."
It was the hottest curry they had ever had. They tried to put on a good show for the impassible waiters looking at them, but they quickly turned red and sweaty, and they had trouble not looking like they were panicking when reaching for the water.
We were pissing ourselves laughing 🙂
The normal one isn't even spicy, my 3 year old can eat it, and could when she was 2.
That said, the Sainsbury's own fajita kit is superior.
Better yet, make you own fajita seasoning and use non UPF wraps.
What's upf?
Nothing f, what's up wit you?
Ultra Processed Foods. I should have written that in the first place rather than use the acronym, apologies!
The definition is a bit flakey but they're essentially foods that contain emulsifiers, stabilisers, modified starches and so on. Things that you wouldn't find in a domestic kitchen. But also foods that have undergone so much processing that they're barely food. There's growing evidence that they're driving obesity and driving a wide range of health problems and even mental health. It's eye opening how much of our food is UPF and quite difficult and expensive to get away from.
My mother has complained that saffron is too spicy. Yes we are melanin deprived why do you ask?
she might have an allergic reaction to it, same as people who describe kiwi fruit as spicy
No she's just so white she bleaches stuff on contact.
The UK is actually generally fine with spicy food, but my relatives in Poland could barely handle mildly spicy food, so yeah
I took my Polish sales rep to eat Ethiopian with me about a month ago, dude loved it, even put extra mitmita on his kitfo ^which I suddenly realize to anyone who doesn't know about Ethiopian food that's gonna sound pretty weird....^
Not weird at all, but of course I just translated this into some weird sexual act you guys were participating in.
What not having any5hing spicy grow in a place naturally does to cusine.
I read once that spicy cuisine doesn't correlate almost at all with where the spices are native, it correlates with where temperatures cause food spoilage. The theory is that, since chilis, garlic, and onions have some antimicrobial and antibiotic effect, the people who cooked with them in warmer climates tended to survive better than people who didn't, and so passed down their tastes for them more. I read that a bunch of years ago, not sure if it's been confirmed or disproved.
White Americans: mayonnaise is too spicy
Also white Americans: yeah the Carolina Butthole Annihilator goes well with pretty much everything
I'd be quite surprised. The USA and Aus have quite a bit of spicy influence. India for UK, Thai for aus...sure many people don't like spicy food but most do.
I loved in UK for a bit and remember being quite surprised that fàst food, like burger king, had proper spicy food.
I swear there's probably more Indian restaurants in the UK than there is in India. Where I suppose they are just called restaurants.
the entire spiciness of the world is concentrated along a single road in Balham
Fun anecdote: I had an indian colleague who could not handle spicy food. He just doesn't come from that one single region that shoves chilli onto everything.
Opened my eyes to the idea that indian food being spicy might be as misleading as english food adding mint to everything (blame: Asterix comics in europe)
Spicy food has a history, particularly in the US, of being associated with masturbation and hypersexuality. Puritans wants food as bland as possible.
In Europe, after the colonial era started, spices became more widely available and were no longer a status symbol (as they were previously only available to the wealthy). This led to the elites turning their noses up to spices and a belief system that the base ingredient should not be defiled in flavor by spice which eventually bled over into the rest of European culture.
Serving richly spiced stews was no longer a status symbol for Europe's wealthiest families — even the middle classes could afford to spice up their grub. "So the elite recoiled from the increasing popularity of spices," Ray says. "They moved on to an aesthetic theory of taste. Rather than infusing food with spice, they said things should taste like themselves. Meat should taste like meat, and anything you add only serves to intensify the existing flavors."
"In Europe, meat was considered the manliest, strongest component of a meal," Laudan notes, and chefs wanted it to shine. So they began cooking meat in meat-based gravies, to intensify its flavor.
Cooking with spices is different from spiciness specifically but I think the same principles apply (with regard to perceptions at the time).
Spicy food has a history, particularly in the US, of being associated with masturbation and hypersexuality. Puritans wants food as bland as possible.
Huh. So that's why.
Also, this sounds like some old school Kelloggs shit. That guy was an absolute freak.
I legitimately can't tell the difference between their mildest and hottest. It's like 0.3% vs. 0.4% hot.
I find this to be the case for most "spicy" things targeting a western market. Firehouse Subs has a hot sauce bar where they rate the spiciness from 1 to 10. Normally I don't bother with it because the ones at the higher end tend to either be some spicy vinegar variation (ugh no thx), or pineapple based, which I'm usually not in the mood for.
Last time they had an 8 that wasn't either of those so I asked them to add a line to my sub as they made it.
It's like their 10 was targeted at jalapeno spiciness, maybe cayenne. The 8 did add some heat, but it was where I'd call it a medium, and a mild one at that.
Should use a logarithmic scale I guess. Just frustrating that spicy stuff always seems to be marketed for people who don't really like spice. The less generous side of me thinks it has to do with people wanting to act tough but are actually whiny losers who thinks it's the seller's fault they can't handle the heat they wanted to show off handling.
A. Yes, there are definitely people here in the UK who can't handle anything spicier than gravy.
B. They're in the minority.
C. I refuse to believe you don't know someone like that, no matter where you're from.
That is so funny. I do have an ex mother out-law who cannot eat onion because she says it's too spicy. She is somehow still a good cook.
I really like spicy food. Don't need everything to be spicy but I like the spicy stuff to be very spicy.
Isn't the human palette interesting. People enjoy the strangest flavors sometimes while others don't.
Kids love the sourest of candies, but won't eat cooked onions or red things. Adults by in large, don't like the same level of sour that children enjoy. But adults enjoy onions raw and often hot chili peppers. I'm fine with strong levels of heat in foods. But I see no reason to use insane levels of heat to try and prove how manly someone might be. I want to taste all the ingredients in the dish, not just one thing. Like Thanos and Buddhist monks, I strive for balance in all things flavor.
I enjoy flavors that most here would run screaming from. I love strong vinegary flavors. I enjoy oaky, tannic bourbons and teas. The iron and mineral flavors of organ meats. And I have noticed lately that I very much enjoy that taste of black pepper, like stupid amounts of it. I even found a small enjoyment of cranberries as I get older. But it's still all about the balance.
There are people who can’t handle spice - in Oz every curry house and pub serves Butter Chicken, which is somehow even milder than Tikka Massala, and even Madras often has cream in it. On the other hand curry houses in Bradford do tinderloo for when vindaloo just isn’t hot enough, which is just daft as a rogan josh is already decently spicy there.
Is extra mild just tomato?
Add a bit of water to mild it out a bit more.
I love spicy food, but my mum can't even handle black pepper. Lol. Lmao even
British people happily eat hot curries so maybe extra mild is for grans or something. Even the mild salsa has almost zero heat on it.
I've lived in Britain and Australia and I've never seen this, and both places have good spicy food so I assume they didn't sell well.
I like spicy food but even mild spice plays up with my stomach and a while after eating some I could shit through the eye of a donut at thirty yards. So I really appreciate things that are meant to be spicy but have an option where they’re not so that I can experience a bit of what I can no longer have.


top 50 comments