Hot Spicing

[CMX]

I have eaten bits of bony frog and ant egg soup and spiny eel and had cubes of gelatinous blood in my bowl. That's not it. After months, I seem to need about ten times the rice to dilute hot dishes - and then I'm not enjoying them.

And I favor "northern" cooking, but even curries at Black Canyon sting me yet. Somewhat short of a year, but not a constant effort (cook at home).

In the U.S., I had no objection to "hot" foods. Mexican dishes are not necessarily spicy, but you can have salsas, for example, that are "hot" - meaning spicy. Those I eat, and I can still taste.

But I wondered how long it was before folks adapted to the point that their appreciation of the food beneath the sting, sweat, and tears arrives. (I love how Thais cook green vegetables, but have yet to distinguish them in spicy dishes.) How long, oh gods, how long?

And, please, the accurate "It depends upon the individual" doesn't count, as I'm trying to collect experiential reports to have with my banana shake. I hope to get to the point that I can appreciate the "best" in Thai cooking. According to your experiences, is my goal in sight?

[lingnoi1977]

You are a step ahead of me CMX - I can not eat many of the things you write about. More physcological than diet/physical driven I admit.

Chilli tolerance is an interesting one. I was brought up on "fragrant" foods and have always been able to tolerate moderate to high levels of spice and chilli. Depending on ones' metabolism, it is possible to build tolerance to chilli.

You may not have it in you my friend.

Having said that, not all Thai food needs to be "hot". Spicy, fragrant and confronting - perhaps.

Can you eat Somtum - Green Papaya Salad? The first time I tried it (Phuket 1998 never forget it!) my palate left me temporarily. What a confrontation of intensity and persistence of "heat"! To this day I will never understand if they got the flavour balance wrong or my virginal palate at the time just could not handle it.

Get yourself a plate of Somtum and ask them to take out the chilli seeds. See how you go

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Chances are you're swallowing wrong. You swallow spicy food like you would hard liquor. Don't let any air get in there.

And if you don't enjoy spicy food, just stick to the mild stuff. We can do a list of dishes that are always mild, if you like.

Edited September 22, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[nikster]

Good article on the topic here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/sep/14/chilli-hot-food

Explains how spicy food works - namely that spicy is not a "taste" but rather an actual burning sensation. What I didn't know though was that the burning sensation does _not_ do any actual harm to your taste buds.

My own advice is to just enjoy your food. It's too spicy - don't eat it. If you need lots of rice - use lots of rice. Enjoy what you eat, always. You're not proving your manhood - or Thai-ness - by being able to eat spicy.

I am eating way spicier than when I first got here - 5 years ago -, and I can keep up with the wife easily when it comes to spicy food. But I've never tried to tolerate more, it just so happened. I never thought I needed to prove I can eat spicy. Even amongst Thais, there's very different tolerances. My father in law doesn't like when it's too spicy - he eats less spicy than me. My wife is about the same as me, though she seems to enjoy spicy a bit more (whereas I don't need it every day, and don't add lots of chilis to any food I am served).

And some friends of ours will pour half of the chili container in their noodle soup so the soup turns deep red and sweat begins dripping off their face after just a few spoons. They love it.

Edited September 22, 2010 by nikster

[CMX]

Thank you for the responses so far. I hope, of course, to hear from those of us who have joined the many gourmet debates about Le Chrystal, western calorie and fat laden breakfasts, and let's not forget to mention Kraft Mac and Sheeze, to respond saying, "I've changed, and it took only x months or years." Where are you, oh converts?

***************************

"You may not have it in you my friend."

"And if you don't enjoy spicy food, just stick to the mild stuff.'

The first suggestion reminds me of something a young wom.... never mind. It is not a suggestion that I have ever welcomed.

The second suggests that I, I!, cannot change. My head coming off due to spices, as I see it, is not a matter of digestion (at least, in my case), it is habit, learned preferences, childhood... I hope and believe. Maybe not.

I did not mention that from experimenting on the hot side that I'm wondering - in our food discussions - if in fact the best food in town is not Thai? I am perfectly confident in my belief that in the middle ranges of pricing and downward, with regard to Western restaurants, that the best standards (through no fault of the owners - ingredients are horribly expensive) are mediocre. "Fusion," I think, is so far here unimaginative.

I want to eat Thai food to find out. Also to add pleasure to quality of life. Also to avoid Western meals that I love and my doctor does not.

Edited September 22, 2010 by CMX

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

keep working at it... You need to override and desensitize your bodies natural warning system.

Once the colon and esophagus are cauterized then it's smooth sailing.

drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco seem the hasten the change also. As a bonus salty food will seem bland and the path to physical destruction will be that much easier.

[bunta71]

I always went by the theory that food is not meant to be painful.

[SadieMBeagle]

Thank you for the responses so far. I hope, of course, to hear from those of us who have joined the many gourmet debates about Le Chrystal, western calorie and fat laden breakfasts, and let's not forget to mention Kraft Mac and Sheeze, to respond saying, "I've changed, and it took only x months or years." Where are you, oh converts?

Ooh. Well, here's hoping that it really *is* different for everyone, because I came here from the US being unable to eat any sort of spicy food. I thought I was doomed. My friend told me, "Don't worry. You'll get used to it." Turns out she was correct. I started eating lightly spicy food, taking breaks when it got too hot, then going back to it. After about six months, I was able to eat a "pet nitnoi" somtam with only one break mid-nosh! Now, after 11 months' residence here, the only thing. I still can't handle is som tam with the regular amount of chilis (I try, I try). Often times now at restaurants, they bring me dishes that are not spicy enough, so I have to take some chilis out of the prick naam blaa to toss on the top. This is a change from before, when I used only the naam blaa, not the prick at all.

Good luck in your quest! If you haven't already been using the "eat till your mouth is on fire, take a rest, then dive back in" method I've been using, I highly recommend it

[LJW]

Thank you for the responses so far. I hope, of course, to hear from those of us who have joined the many gourmet debates about Le Chrystal, western calorie and fat laden breakfasts, and let's not forget to mention Kraft Mac and Sheeze, to respond saying, "I've changed, and it took only x months or years." Where are you, oh converts?

Ooh. Well, here's hoping that it really *is* different for everyone, because I came here from the US being unable to eat any sort of spicy food. I thought I was doomed. My friend told me, "Don't worry. You'll get used to it." Turns out she was correct. I started eating lightly spicy food, taking breaks when it got too hot, then going back to it. After about six months, I was able to eat a "pet nitnoi" somtam with only one break mid-nosh! Now, after 11 months' residence here, the only thing. I still can't handle is som tam with the regular amount of chilis (I try, I try). Often times now at restaurants, they bring me dishes that are not spicy enough, so I have to take some chilis out of the prick naam blaa to toss on the top. This is a change from before, when I used only the naam blaa, not the prick at all.

Good luck in your quest! If you haven't already been using the "eat till your mouth is on fire, take a rest, then dive back in" method I've been using, I highly recommend it

What is the 'regular' amount of chilis?

I like my somtam fairly spicy, so I ask for 3 or 4 chilis...

[SadieMBeagle]

What is the 'regular' amount of chilis?

I like my somtam fairly spicy, so I ask for 3 or 4 chilis...

I actually don't know how many chilis I typically get, although one time I saw a vendor put in two and it was hardly spicy at all. But I think it depends also on the amount of chilis from the somtams made prior to yours as well, as that residue is left in the bowl.

Oh, my Thai friend who has a restaurant here told me that the "regular amount" is 5 chilis. You should give her somtam a try. MOUTHFIRE But I can eat about a third of it...hmm, maybe I can eat spicier than I thought?

[xen]

I have been eating Thai food for over 25 years and i still cannot eat it too hot. My problem is partly because i love food ,and i love the different flavours , the sour, the sweet and the salty and all the flavours inbetween and i find that if it is too hot , then there is only one flavour i can experience. And if it is extraordinarly hot , then i could be eating chilli dogshit for all the enjoyment it gives me.

Edited September 22, 2010 by xen

[trainman34014]

When I arrived 3 years ago my tolerance of spicy foods wasn't all that good but my Thai wife is not just a good cook but a clever one. Over the first year she gradually increased the 'heat' of my food until I was eating the hotter stuff at the same level she does. Since then I've haven't had a problem but I think the comment about different people having different tolerance levels is a sound one. I have Farang pals here who just can't stand spicy food, or struggle with trying to adapt to it no matter how hard they try.

[CMX]

Boosting my own thread is bad form, but this advice has carried me along. I understand that individual experiences vary. Thai children, and all infants, don't like spice, but 1/3 of the earth's adult population eats spicy food by choice, and to this degree or that, probably all Thais like spice in their chow. This suggests to me that it is possible to learn to eat spicy foods for those of us who have open minds or are intensely stubborn or who have scheming relatives who cook, maybe.

So, advice I've received ~

On the one hand, I should not beat up on myself if I don't advance into the hot salad area.

On the other hand, if I don't succeed at first, try, try, again and I'll end up somewhere else perhaps, as some have done.

(Incidentally, nobody yet has raved about the benefits with regard to taste, appreciation, adoration, or healthfulness.)

*****

SO to those who have advanced into spice-land, are you able to distinguish flavors? Is the experience of variety rich?

(With the heat way turned down, I'm beginning to note some wonderful combinations through the tears and sniffles - I think).

Edited September 22, 2010 by CMX

[Soulwy]

I love chillis and peppers and I use different peppers in a dish for different 'tones of tastes'. But...my skin reacts on spicy food (spicy food is activating, 'heating'), it gets red and sensitive, so unfortunately I have to be careful. When I order Som Tam, I ask for ' spicy nitnoi', and I get 1 chili.

You remind me of me when I wanted to appreciate coriander more (because of the benefits and a big fav for some Thai dishes. I just didn't like it but I learned to like it, a bit ...

[IanForbes]

How long before you adapt you ask?

Not until your tastebuds are totally ruined and burnt to a crisp.

[kawtot]

On good authority - from Thai nationals who prefer aa-haan tai - there is a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is farang-pet and 5 is kon-tai pet. Apparently this scale maps perfectly to the number of chillies in a serve of som-dtam.

I first came to Thailand 7 years ago for song-graan in a rural village, followed by a few weeks of holidaying with Thai nationals. They fed me, and ordered for me, at farang-pet+1. I marvelled at the extra spiciness they added to their meals.

When I returned home I was bland-food intolerant. I tracked down a Laotian family supplying 'Asian' foods in my home city (much of it fresh and locally-grown), an Iranian family who supplied fresh nuts and spices and smoked black chillies (and so many other delectables), and a Lebanese family who managed to sell fruit and veg far fresher and cheaper than the local supermarket. All of these businesses were there before, but I somehow hadn't noticed them. After a few chilli-induced near-self-combustions, a Thai expat friend intervened and taught me to cook at farang-pet+2 (by smell and taste; an art I can't explain, and still can't perform particularly well). My insides had never been so 'healthy', my tastebuds never sooo happy.

I remain bland-food intolerant. Here in CM I generally order mai koi pet, which seems to equate to 3 or 4 (if you make your order in passa tai, that is). Since I like 3 or 4 chillies in my som-dtam, and less/more than this destroys the balance of flavours, the pet scale is thereby axiomatic . Fine-tuning is achieved with condiments, naam-this and naam-that.

How long does it take to adapt? For me...

. from 1 to 2: less than 2 intensive months

. from 2 to 3 (and 4): about 6 months (4 is a matter of my mood and the type/mix of meals in question)

. 5 is not by my choice but the occasional kon-tai pet hasn't killed me yet

Happy grazing, CMX! Hope you find your sweet-spot soon... which brings to mind mai koi waan... but that's a whole nother topic... still, I wonder if prolonged exposure to kon-tai pet reduces one's sensitivity to sweeteners? ..