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This is an interesting piece. I can certainly believe the connection between enjoying spiciness and thrill-seeking. Eating really spicy food is a form of culina
by zhemao 10y ago
This is an interesting piece. I can certainly believe the connection between enjoying spiciness and thrill-seeking. Eating really spicy food is a form of culinary masochism after all.
I have two little pieces of information to add.
On Mao's culinary idiosyncrasies: He was famous for his love of red-braised pork belly. And today, there are many "Mao restaurants" in China which specialize in the Hunanese-style red-braised pork belly recipe he preferred, which distinctively uses caramelized sugar instead of soy sauce to achieve the dark brown color.
On the connotations of 辣妹子 ("spicy girl"): The "spicy" implies not only a "spicy" temper and "spicy" tongue, but also "spicy" looks. Sichuanese and Hunanese girls are known for being very attractive.
- clw8 10y agoAs a lover of Chinese food I can attest that Hunanese is spicy as fuck.
- coldtea 10y ago>Eating really spicy food is a form of culinary masochism after all. Not if you like it. But historically, and before the refrigerator, it was also a good way to make long preserved food taste less bad, and also a way to preserve food (as spicies contain antibiotics). http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4983/does-spicy-food-have-antibacterial-traits http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4983/does-spicy-...
- ared38 10y agoAlthough many spices have antimicrobial properties, the idea they were used as a preservative is a myth. Just look at leftovers: My extra spicy kung pao goes bad just as fast as my roomate's sweet and sour. Salt, acidity, and fermentation are both much more effective and well known in ancient times. Source: A Taste of Conquest by Michael Krondl discusses the historic uses of spices in great deal.
- o_____________o 10y ago>>Eating really spicy food is a form of culinary masochism after all. >Not if you like it. Masochism means pleasure from pain.
- coldtea 10y agoWell, those who like it don't approach it as "pain", but as a strong nice feeling on the tongue, that is the point is not some pain (painful is how it feels to those who can't take it), but the taste. It's not like they would just as well overly acidic food (which would also be "pain" on the tongue) or overly hot (in temperature) food, etc, as "masochists". It's the taste of the spice, not the pain.
- zhemao 10y agoThe taste of spice is pain. Capsaicin triggers your tongue's pain receptors, not its olfactory receptors.
- o_____________o 10y agoLove for pain is learned. Think of what you would learn from both of the examples you cited.