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Yeah -- the fact that chili peppers only came to Asia a few hundred years ago isn't widely recognized for what a change it must have been to the cuisine. Just a

Yeah -- the fact that chili peppers only came to Asia a few hundred years ago isn't widely recognized for what a change it must have been to the cuisine. Just as the fact that Europe had no tomatoes or potatoes until around the same time a few hundred years ago.

npsomaratna 3y ago
Yup. In Sri Lanka we calls chilies "miris," and pepper "gam miris" (translation: village chilies). I guess folks originally used pepper as the way to set their mouths on fire; and once introduced, happily jumped over to chilies as a much better way to do so.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- petesergeant 3y ago
  Oh, interesting! In Thai, peppercorns are พริกไทย, literally “Thai chilli”, where I think most Westerners would think of (and indeed Wikipedia says that) Thai chillis as being bird chilli (พริกขี้หนู, lit “mouse shit chilli”)
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    Phrik kii nuu is a specific type of chilli pepper, namely bird's eye/chilli padi, the really spicy small ones. There are many other varieties: https://www.foodrepublic.com/1295447/what-are-different-thai-chilies/ https://www.foodrepublic.com/1295447/what-are-different-thai...
- naniwaduni 3y ago
  Is the implication that chili displaced local peppers as the "default" spicy condiment assigned the basic vocabulary item, with the latter relegated to the status of a "rural"/"traditional" variant?
contingencies 3y ago
Other pertinent new world crops that drastically altered staple cuisines in Asia: potato, tomato, corn. Then of course there's tobacco / nicotine, and from more of an ornamental standpoint, the frangipani appears critically entwined with temples across numerous Asian countries and religious and philosophical traditions however is also a new-world Johnny come lately. Some things that come to mind that spread in the other direction (Asia to Europe/Africa/America) in a little known and relatively late fashion were citrus and the chicken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken
- fuzztester 3y ago
  The domestic chicken is supposed to have come from the junglefowl of India, as it says in the above Wikipedia article.
  - contingencies 3y ago
    That's why it was listed under "other direction". Also, if you read the recent paper, it actually identifies Myanmar as the approximate origin.
    - fuzztester 3y ago
      >That's why it was listed under "other direction". That's why I quoted the Wikipedia link that you quoted - after reading the initial part of it, it, although I had also read about chickens and junglefowl years before, being interested in such topics, and being an Indian who has also roamed about in such jungles in Central India as a teenager: I had said, above: >>as it says in the above Wikipedia article.
      - contingencies 3y ago
        Umm, the epicenter of wild chicken biodiversity is not within modern or historic Indian borders, as far as the science can tell. It is in Myanmar, well beyond the range of direct subcontinental rule (excepting perhaps the British period). What exactly are you arguing? It is unclear from your statements.

npsomaratna 3y ago

Yup. In Sri Lanka we calls chilies "miris," and pepper "gam miris" (translation: village chilies). I guess folks originally used pepper as the way to set their mouths on fire; and once introduced, happily jumped over to chilies as a much better way to do so.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
petesergeant 3y ago
Oh, interesting! In Thai, peppercorns are พริกไทย, literally “Thai chilli”, where I think most Westerners would think of (and indeed Wikipedia says that) Thai chillis as being bird chilli (พริกขี้หนู, lit “mouse shit chilli”)
- resolutebat 3y ago
  Phrik kii nuu is a specific type of chilli pepper, namely bird's eye/chilli padi, the really spicy small ones. There are many other varieties: https://www.foodrepublic.com/1295447/what-are-different-thai-chilies/ https://www.foodrepublic.com/1295447/what-are-different-thai...
naniwaduni 3y ago
Is the implication that chili displaced local peppers as the "default" spicy condiment assigned the basic vocabulary item, with the latter relegated to the status of a "rural"/"traditional" variant?

contingencies 3y ago

Other pertinent new world crops that drastically altered staple cuisines in Asia: potato, tomato, corn. Then of course there's tobacco / nicotine, and from more of an ornamental standpoint, the frangipani appears critically entwined with temples across numerous Asian countries and religious and philosophical traditions however is also a new-world Johnny come lately. Some things that come to mind that spread in the other direction (Asia to Europe/Africa/America) in a little known and relatively late fashion were citrus and the chicken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken

fuzztester 3y ago
The domestic chicken is supposed to have come from the junglefowl of India, as it says in the above Wikipedia article.
- contingencies 3y ago
  That's why it was listed under "other direction". Also, if you read the recent paper, it actually identifies Myanmar as the approximate origin.
  - fuzztester 3y ago
    >That's why it was listed under "other direction". That's why I quoted the Wikipedia link that you quoted - after reading the initial part of it, it, although I had also read about chickens and junglefowl years before, being interested in such topics, and being an Indian who has also roamed about in such jungles in Central India as a teenager: I had said, above: >>as it says in the above Wikipedia article.
    - contingencies 3y ago
      Umm, the epicenter of wild chicken biodiversity is not within modern or historic Indian borders, as far as the science can tell. It is in Myanmar, well beyond the range of direct subcontinental rule (excepting perhaps the British period). What exactly are you arguing? It is unclear from your statements.