> there is whole universe of intense tastes unavailable to traditional western cuisine that doesn't burn your tongue a bit FWIW, I agree with everything you sa

> there is whole universe of intense tastes unavailable to traditional western cuisine that doesn't burn your tongue a bit FWIW, I agree with everything you said, but I'd like to point out there's a ton of spices used in western cuisine too. For example, in my hometown (central Italy) we use a lot of wild fennel pollen, which goes on basically everything. In Hungary fennel seeds, marjoram, paprika and turmeric are in practically every kitchen. Star anise, nutmeg, saffron, mace, clove etc.. have been used in western cuisine for centuries too, and are used in very traditional western dishes (french onion soup, bechamel sauce, risotto alla milanese etc) Western cuisine certainly uses less spices than the indian subcontinent, but I would not say the spices were unavailable to western cuisine.