I can handle spicy food but I'll avoid it if I can due to a Tom Yum soup that left me with an ulcer.

Another donut extra sprinkles!

edited 12th Apr '12 3:36:53 PM by latenight

I just don't understand where the liking for them even comes from. Spicy foods numb your mouth... I wanna actually be able to TASTE what I'm eating

Where's the motivation to eat to the point were you've become used to it? Or was I just born with a weak mouth?

edited 12th Apr '12 3:37:18 PM by gingerninja666

Best advice.

Have milk or yogurt on standby.

My tolerance for spicy food has grown. Not quite enough to possibly consider the sauces my parents like to throw in their food.

Save for mole, good stuff.

edited 12th Apr '12 3:38:40 PM by TheFreeman

On a slightly different topic, since it was Easter last weekend, I was wondering if Equestria has an Easter equivalent. Either as a spring festival of some sort (so would Winter Wrap-Up count?) or the more religious version about a myth of a pony who died and came back to life.

I like spicy foods, to an extent. For example, I'm fine with, say, "spicy" salsa with nachos, but I prefer mild salsa flavor-wise since I enjoy the interplay of flavors more than outright tooth-melting heat. Spicy chili is awesome though, and my dad makes some of the best chili ever.

I love making chili! It's really easy to make too and healthy to boot.

As for why I like spicy food.... From Cracked:

"Go to the snack aisle at your nearest grocery store, and you'll find three things: sweet, salty and spicy.

Sweet foods make sense — cells use sugar as their primary source of energy. Your body knows this, so it rewards you for cramming your mouth full of it (to the point that it keeps tasting good to us right up until we've eaten so much that we need a scooter to get around). But why are we so into salt? After all, salt is just tiny freaking rocks. Or, even weirder, stuff that burns our tongue? What exactly are potato chips and jalapeno-flavored everything doing for us?

The Addiction: Let's take on salt first. You need salt (or more specifically, sodium) to live — it regulates blood pressure and keeps your nerves working. Your body has no means of producing it, and humans evolved in an environment where salt is a trace element (making it so valuable that in the old days it was commonly used as a form of currency). So your brain has evolved to treat it like precious gold. Or, you know, cocaine.

Salty foods may in fact act as an antidepressant, the brain's way of rewarding us for staving off extinction. And just as with any addiction, the brain doesn't know when to turn it off — the pleasure centers of your brain get accustomed to the high, demanding more and more. And, just to make things even worse, salt may actually contribute to changing our brain chemistry, so that instead of feeling full after eating, we just keep craving more. Combining it with fat and other elements in junk food is actually thought to be about as addictive as heroin. That's why, while salt may have been rare at one time, it sure as hell isn't rare in the junk food aisle — the average American consumes over twice as much sodium as needed every day, which in turn contributes to the 400, 000 heart disease deaths every year.

OK, so what the hell is the deal with spicy or "hot" foods? Why do we voluntary subject our mouths to actual pain, even from childhood (to the point that one school had to ban Flamin' Hot Cheetos because the kids were so into them that they were leaving trails of that orange powdery residue everywhere)?

The chemicals in spicy food irritate the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for, oh, not much, just all the sensation in your goddamned face. Scientists theorize that the irritation causes the brain to release endorphins to ease the discomfort by, well, giving the eater a natural high. And like any high, you want it again, and to make it more intense. That's right — people who love spicy foods are addicted to pain."

edited 12th Apr '12 3:42:01 PM by ilsemmr

@Rainbow, I'm sure if one did exist, Pinkie would be all over it

@ginger: Liking Spicy Foods is all about starting small, and building up a tolerance. As a kid, I'd never have been able to eat spicy food like I do now - it would be physically painful. Now, things that people painful to eat barely even register to me.

Spicy food actually does have a taste behind the fire. It's this sort of tangy, sometimes almost pickly taste. Different sauces will have more unique tastes, and some of them are even completely off the wall - Wasabi tastes a bit smokey, for example. But they all have this inherent tang to them, and that's the taste I like. you just have to start small enough, and as you work your way up the tang will always be present behind the spice.

I think I'm just addicted to the pain that comes from eating spicy food, but I do suppose that spicy things do have a kind of tangy flavor don't they?

I actually despise the vinegar taste that goes with certain spicy foods (Lousiana hot sauce can suck it). Which is odd because I love the more oriental sweet and spicy things. (And certain styles of hot wings)

Mmmmmm.... buffalo style chicken wings are the best ^^

@ ilse

That's making me hungry.

I'm not a fan of vinegar, period. Sour and Bitterness don't really appeal to me. I prefer more savoury, meaty flavours

@kegi but where's the motive to put yourself through all that pain?

edited 12th Apr '12 3:45:28 PM by gingerninja666

Thread Hop!

Which Ajah do you guys think the Mane Six would belong to?

Well, that's probably a good reason not to eat spicy foods.

Also, what type of pony would each of the Glee cast be?

No points for saying what Kurt would be

edited 12th Apr '12 3:46:46 PM by crowlover

@Rainbow The ponies could celebrate Easter but rather the pagan holiday that celebrates the Goddess of the Dawn. Actually now that I think about it some more I think the Summer Sun Celebration might be similar.

@Ilse Yeah buffalo wings are good. Its one of the reasons I like the superbowl since its an excuse to go all out on wings.

edited 12th Apr '12 3:47:34 PM by latenight

@crow Gah! GLEEE!!!!!

Get it off me!

Fun fact: the meaty taste is referred to as umami.

Magic of remembering earlier parts of psyche class :D

@Crow

Finn is an Earth Pony clearly, Artie is a Pegasi with broken wings, Kurt is a unicorn :P

@ginger

I never did find out, why do you hate Glee so much? Sue is one badass villain.

edited 12th Apr '12 3:48:55 PM by LMage

Never used to like spicy stuff either, now I'm fine with some of the stuff, still not crazy about anything more then hot wings.

Though Ginger you do gotta give spicy food this, it's great for clearing out your sinuses.

I find the characters obnoxious and I don't like the songs

If I want that I'll chew on a Fisherman's Friend thank you very much...

edited 12th Apr '12 3:50:02 PM by gingerninja666

@ginger

Not liking the songs is understandable, but did why do you think the characters are obnoxious? Sure they start out as stereotypes and cliches, but the entire show goes onto to deconstruct (and reconstruct) those, transforming and developing them into real deep characters in a insanely realistic way.

edited 12th Apr '12 3:51:11 PM by LMage

Would Sue be an Earth Pony or a Pegasus? Mercedes seems like an Earth Pony, and I caould go with Earth Pony for Sam as well.

Nothing clears the sinuses like too much horseradish on your steak or wasabi rolls.