Countries and their opinions of Spicy Food

Denisovan · 31-10-2013 1:33pm #1

It has come to my attention via a work colleague that ghanaians adore spicy food. Which country's inhabitants in your opinion are most fond of spicy food. Mexico and India would be strong contenders of course.

Hande hoche! · 31-10-2013 1:34pm

The north of England. Also Devon.

MonstaMash · 31-10-2013 1:37pm

Sichuan province of China

suicide_circus · 31-10-2013 1:37pm

the most intolerably spice food I ever tried was Indian in origin. can't remember the name of the dish but it was essentially inedible.

salacious crumb · 31-10-2013 1:38pm

Me.

lkionm · 31-10-2013 1:40pm

My farts and poos are awful spicy when I get a kebab.

spuddy90 · 31-10-2013 1:41pm

You can't rule out Thailand! I still can't come to terms with it and I'm eating their chillies the last 7 years!

fobster · 31-10-2013 1:42pm

It has come to my attention via no one in particular that some countries don't have spicy food. What's with that? Which country's inhabitants in your opinion have the unspiciest of unspicy food. Norway and Iceland would be strong contenders imho.

spuddy90 · 31-10-2013 1:44pm

You can't rule out Thailand! I still can't come to terms with it and I'm eating their chillies the last 7 years!

Mesut Ozil · 31-10-2013 1:45pm

lkionm wrote: »

My farts and poos are awful spicy when I get a kebab.

You eat your own poo?

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 1:46pm

whichever country produces the hottest chilli on the scoville scale (scale for measuring chilli hotness) shall be declared the winner

ScumLord · 31-10-2013 1:46pm

Every country in Europe has Chinese and Indian restaurants and an Irish pub. Just about every country in the world would have those 3 things.

lkionm · 31-10-2013 1:46pm

Mesut Ozil wrote: »

You eat your own poo?

Anything to get rid of a hangover.

Logical Fallacy · 31-10-2013 1:49pm

ScumLord wrote: »

Every country in Europe has Chinese and Indian restaurants and an Irish pub. Just about every country in the world would have those 3 things.

I think he means with regard to traditional cuisine as opposed to current availability of world foods.

danniemcq · 31-10-2013 1:52pm

Threads Merged, room topic is now discussion of countries and spicy foods

Seaneh · 31-10-2013 1:52pm

fobster wrote: »

It has come to my attention via no one in particular that some countries don't have spicy food. What's with that? Which country's inhabitants in your opinion have the unspiciest of unspicy food. Norway and Iceland would be strong contenders imho.

You mean hot, not spicy.

Ireland, for example, actually has a history of using a lot of different spices, but not hot ones, just spices like Juniper berries and the like.

Hot and spicy are not the same thing.

FTA69 · 31-10-2013 1:54pm

Some Caribbean stuff is viciously hot, especially some of the home-made jerk marinade. Bangladeshi and some Indian cuisine is often bastard hot; Pakistani cuisine is generally a lot less richer with minimal heat. Thais generally have some extremely hot food available, the Tom Yum soup they eat is often screeching. Korean food uses a lot of chillis and fermented bean paste and it is very, very spicy.

The good thing about living in London is that you can eat anything and everything whenever you want to. I've built up a serious tolerance for heat and could eat an extra-hot Vindaloo with no bother whatsoever. I'd often get a Phall in the curry house which is twice as hot as a vindaloo. Only last month I ate two scotch bonnets on a slice of toast when I was p*ssed.

However, last week I got this Ethiopian stuff and drowned it in a luminous-red chilli paste your one had. Mother of God I was praying for death after it.

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 1:54pm

Seaneh wrote: »

Ireland, for example, actually has a history of using a lot of different spicey, but not hot ones, just spices like Juniper berries and the like.

We like to blast it out of it with mustard and loads of saxa white pepper excuse you :P

Seaneh · 31-10-2013 1:54pm

Denisovan wrote: »

It has come to my attention via a work colleague that ghanaians adore spicy food. Which country's inhabitants in your opinion are most fond of spicy food. Mexico and India would be strong contenders of course.

Any of the Caribbean countries, especially the likes of Trinidad and Jamaica, would eat food much hotter than Mexico (Mexican food generally isn't actually very hot at all) and most of India. They put Scotch Bonnet and Habaneros into absolutely everything.

FTA69 · 31-10-2013 1:55pm

Seaneh wrote: »

Hot and spicy are not the same thing.

True. Moroccan food for instance is heavily-spiced but isn't hot at all.

Seaneh · 31-10-2013 1:55pm

Neon_Lights wrote: »

We like to blast it out of it with mustard and loads of saxa white pepper excuse you :P

Not sure about the mustard seeds but white pepper is a pretty recent addition to European cooking, seeing as it comes from India :P

mitosis · 31-10-2013 1:57pm

Basically anywhere the climate would lead meat to spoil quickly has a tradition of spicy food.

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 1:57pm

Ah the flags have the same colours as our country so we'l claim white pepper as our own, nobody will ever know

mitosis · 31-10-2013 2:00pm

Seaneh wrote: »

Not sure about the mustard seeds but white pepper is a pretty recent addition to European cooking, seeing as it comes from India :P

I am not sure what you regard as recent, but in the 1st century Rome imported large amounts of pepper from India.

Newonhere · 31-10-2013 2:02pm

I love spicy food, particularly Indian and Thai but I went to a Szechuan restaurant in Shanghai and found the majority of the food inedible due to it being FAR too hot, both my partner and myself had to leave most of the food that we ordered, even though it looked fantastic, and head to a different (not Szechuan) restaurant for dinner.

kingtut · 31-10-2013 2:13pm

Spicy and Hot do not mean the same thing, I am amazed at how many people say I had a really spicy curry last night, it blew my head off. Umm so it was HOT, does not mean it was spicy though.

HOT = Amount of chili / how much it burns
SPICY = Amount of spices in the dish (which adds to the flavour).

A curry can be hot, spicy or hot and spicy :P

That being said I love HOT curry although I do sometimes regret it the next morning :P

Gyalist · 31-10-2013 2:19pm

The food in Trinidad & Tobago (anywhere in the Caribbean really) is both hot and spicy. Moruga is a town in Trinidad which has lent its name to the Moruga Scorpion chilli which holds the highest rating on the Scoville scale. They also use a variety of coriander/cilantro known locally as chadon beni in most of their cuisine. Gives their food a very distinct flavour that is not found in the rest of the Caribbean.

If you go to a market in Guyana you will come across an unbelievable range of peppers, fresh herbs and spices. The tiny pepper known as wiri-wiri is very potent.

Seaneh · 31-10-2013 2:21pm

mitosis wrote: »

I am not sure what you regard as recent, but in the 1st century Rome imported large amounts of pepper from India.

That pepper didn't filter very far down the chain of command though.

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 2:23pm

its okay ireland or hibernia as it was called by lez romaines wasn't invaded by the romans.

Wompa1 · 31-10-2013 2:24pm

Over here if you go to a Thai restaraunt they serve the food as 'white man hot' unless you ask for it 'Thai hot'

When it's Thai hot, you sweat your arse off, get the sniffles, eyes watering and feel it in your throat and chest. No thank you

Billy86 · 31-10-2013 3:03pm

Gyalist wrote: »

Moruga is a town in Trinidad which has lent its name to the Moruga Scorpion chilli which holds the highest rating on the Scoville scale.

It appears someone overlooked the merciless peppers of Quetzalacatenango… grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.

jackofalltrades · 31-10-2013 3:09pm

Wompa1 wrote: »

When it's Thai hot, you sweat your arse off, get the sniffles, eyes watering and feel it in your throat and chest.

Sounds great, if only there was somewhere in Dublin that served food this hot.

Fed up of asking for dishes really hot and then being disappointed with the mild-fest that gets served up.

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 3:13pm

jackofalltrades wrote: »

Sounds great, if only there was somewhere in Dublin that served food this hot.

Fed up of asking for dishes really hot and then being disappointed with the mild-fest that gets served up.

In the meantime you could go to wagamama's and snort wasabi, seeing as the D4's cant afford coke anymore :P

Savoir.Faire · 31-10-2013 3:28pm

One should never followup on the eating of an extremely hot curry or soup by flooring 10 pints of Guinness. It's an incredibly bad idea, and the source of some genuine distress the next day.

Billy86 · 31-10-2013 3:30pm

jackofalltrades wrote: »

Sounds great, if only there was somewhere in Dublin that served food this hot.

Fed up of asking for dishes really hot and then being disappointed with the mild-fest that gets served up.

Get the ghost chili chicken wings in Cortina's Dundrum, it's something like the 2nd or 3rd hottest chili in the world. A warning though, every time you go to the bathroom (front or back), burp, fart, sneeze or even cough for the next day or so WILL literally feel like a chemical fire inside you, and you will have bad cramps. They make you sign a legal waiver/medical release form before serving them! It's over 400 times hotter than jalapeno - and I can tell you first hand to be VERY careful wiping away the tears, because it is as hot as some of the milder pepper sprays out there.

They also do it with the Scorpion chili (hottest in the world) and apparently something stronger again (which I assume involves chemicals on top of chilis) but didn't have in stock when I was there.

salacious crumb · 31-10-2013 3:45pm

Billy86 wrote: »

Get the ghost chili chicken wings in Cortina's Dundrum, it's something like the 2nd or 3rd hottest chili in the world. A warning though, every time you go to the bathroom (front or back), burp, fart, sneeze or even cough for the next day or so WILL literally feel like a chemical fire inside you, and you will have bad cramps. They make you sign a legal waiver/medical release form before serving them! It's over 400 times hotter than jalapeno - and I can tell you first hand to be VERY careful wiping away the tears, because it is as hot as some of the milder pepper sprays out there.

They also do it with the Scorpion chili (hottest in the world) and apparently something stronger again (which I assume involves chemicals on top of chilis) but didn't have in stock when I was there.

Challenge accepted :pac:

BraziliaNZ · 31-10-2013 3:53pm

From my experience South Americans don't like spicy at all. Central America maybe but I've never been there. I love it, I put Scotch Bonnies in errrrrrrrrrrrrrthing.

Billy86 · 31-10-2013 3:56pm

salacious crumb wrote: »

Challenge accepted :pac:

If the chef with the northern accent warns you to drink a LOT of milk for the next 36 hours or so... just take his damn advise!

They are tasty, though. Decently priced too, €10-12 ish I think.

Muise... · 31-10-2013 3:56pm

fobster wrote: »

It has come to my attention via no one in particular that some countries don't have spicy food. What's with that? Which country's inhabitants in your opinion have the unspiciest of unspicy food. Norway and Iceland would be strong contenders imho.

Iceland's Hákarl - rotten shark - doesn't sound exactly mild.

"Rotten shark is chosen instead of fresh shark meat because the meat of the Greenland shark is poisonous when fresh because of a high content of urea and trimethylamine oxide, but may be consumed after being processed (see below). Allowing the shark to fully decay and cure removes retained uric acid from the flesh, making it edible.[2] It has a particular ammonia smell, similar to many cleaning products. It is often served in cubes on toothpicks." :eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hákarl

MadsL · 31-10-2013 4:02pm

Neon_Lights wrote: »

whichever country produces the hottest chilli on the scoville scale (scale for measuring chilli hotness) shall be declared the winner

New Mexico certainly produces some of the most famous chiles, Hatch Chile being the most famous.

Yet, New Mexican food is not the spiciest, green chile is roasted giving it a smoky, subtle flavour, the red chiles are hotter but when cooked into red chile sauce are still not fireballs.

Green chile stew with chicken flavours, smoky chile spice and the 'meat' of the flesh of the green chile is a complex warming dish, spicy yes, but not overwhelming with heat, it leaves the tastebuds intact.

I think judging a chile by it's flavour rather than its heat is the way to judge love of spicy food. And if you love the Chile, Hatch is your Mecca.

And yes, chile not chili.

Uaru · 31-10-2013 4:07pm

Hatch chiles are very mild in comparison to what is being talked about here. Almost a sweet pepper.

There's a lady in Temple Bar market with a great range of homegrown chilis. Well worth a gander if you like the spicier side of cooking.

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 4:09pm

Has anybody mentioned White ghost peppers?

MadsL · 31-10-2013 4:17pm

Uaru wrote: »

Hatch chiles are very mild in comparison to what is being talked about here. Almost a sweet pepper.

You've possibly not tasted the hot side of them, they vary acordding to how dry the year is and the farm they come from, and are certainly a chile rather than a sweet pepper.

I ordered the Green Chile stew at a Mexican restaurant recently and it was very close to my threshold, I finished it but remarked on how hot it was, the waiter then casually said "Oh, it's the hottest thing on our menu!" and Mexican food can be much hotter than most New Mexican food.

My point however is that chile has flavour, and that its missed completely by burning the lips off yourself with macho scoville scores. Chile is tasty!

Uaru · 31-10-2013 4:22pm

MadsL wrote: »

You've possibly not tasted the hot side of them, they vary acordding to how dry the year is and the farm they come from, and are certainly a chile rather than a sweet pepper.

The ones I had were grown in a greenhouse in Wicklow! This may have reduced their potency. They had a mild kick but I could eat a whole one raw. I couldn't do that with a fresh jalapeño.

JaneeMack · 31-10-2013 4:24pm

Korean food

Neon_Lights · 31-10-2013 4:31pm

JaneeMack wrote: »

Korean food

Hot Dog .... anyone??

MadsL · 31-10-2013 4:34pm

Uaru wrote: »

The ones I had were grown in a greenhouse in Wicklow! This may have reduced their potency. They had a mild kick but I could eat a whole one raw. I couldn't do that with a fresh jalapeño.

Yeah, that's gonna be wrong in oh so many ways.

Hatch goes up to the mildest jalepeno, they are not fiery, but hit 2,500 scovilles.

My god are they tasty though!

Grandeeod · 31-10-2013 4:42pm

I'd second the Caribbean for spicy food. Only recently got into it and I have to say its wonderful. I am a curry lover and Jamaican curry of either goat on the bone or chicken is extremely tasty and very different to Indian curry.

BeerWolf · 31-10-2013 4:45pm

Ireland's "Spiciness" would be like the equivalent of a yogurt in other countries... <_<;

e.g. - them grades of 'chilli' you see to determine how spicy something is, max is still bloody mild.

Reindeer · 31-10-2013 5:28pm

The greatest selection of spicy food I have ever seen is in America. It's all there. What I miss the most is Mexican food.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=man+vs+food+spicy&oq=man+vs+food+spicy&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.836.2916.0.3093.17.14.0.3.3.1.172.1099.11j3.14.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.X4JA7kDSnI8

ScumLord · 31-10-2013 6:15pm

Reindeer wrote: »

The greatest selection of spicy food I have ever seen is in America. It's all there. What I miss the most is Mexican food.

You should go to Birmingham if you like spicy/hot food, they have the balti triangle and overall are mad about very hot food.

Countries and their opinions of Spicy Food

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