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spicy food in america is rarely ever actually hot

tangeu

tangeu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,225
I just hate when I get served "white man" level of spicy
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "Very hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me frustrated "As hot as you can make it"
Them rolling their eyes "ooookkkaaaayyyyy"
*food is literally inedible*
 

Dark1x

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
3,530
Wish I could enjoy more hot food. I love the flavor and experience of eating it but the really hot stuff always causes digestive issues for me that I've not been able to overcome. :-(
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,569
Kiro said:
As a Canadian I went to a Thai place in Indiana and we got to pick a spiciness level out of ten. We picked a 7 and the waitress said most people find a 4 really hot. We stuck with the 7 and it was unbelievably bland and had no spiciness at all.

Anecdotal of course, but dang we realized Canada's multicultural/ethnic flavours kick America's butt.
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This stuff varies so much by individual restaurant and city, though. Both Canada and the US have very spicy options if you know where to look.

And restaurants will stereotype. I always get my Indian wife to order the food when it's spicy. There's a good chance they won't make it spicy enough if they see my ginger skin.
 

Deleted member 17402

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,125
I like spicy food but not to the point where I can describe it as painful. At that point it's stupid as fuck. I also have a high tolerance for spice.
 
BLEEN

BLEEN

Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,871
tangeu said:
I just hate when I get served "white man" level of spicy
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "Very hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me frustrated "As hot as you can make it"
Them rolling their eyes "ooookkkaaaayyyyy"
*food is literally inedible*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The trick is to start sweating on command, while chugging water, and asking for another glass, whilst squirting a habanero in yr eye. Trust me on this one.
 
Piston

Piston

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,155
Spice shaming might be some of the stupidest shit I've seen. I hate it when people start doing it in real life. So fucking what if I like medium salsa, Bill.
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

What year is this?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,821
Piston said:
Spice shaming might be some of the stupidest shit I've seen. I hate it when people start doing it in real life. So fucking what if I like medium salsa, Bill.
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That's true, but at the same time, it's annoying when someone says you're just pretending to like spicy food/why would you like to be in pain/etc...
 
MindofKB

MindofKB

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,077
Bay Area
I (a Black man) went to a Thai restaurant in San Diego with my two friends (White men).

We all ordered the same level of spiciness and the waitress only questioned them about whether or not they were sure they could handle it.

I was DYING laughing when she walked away.
 
Piston

Piston

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,155
ElectricBlanketFire said:
That's true, but at the same time, it's annoying when someone says you're just pretending to like spicy food/why would you like to be in pain/etc...
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Sure it goes both ways. Personally, if I can't feel my mouth for 10 minutes after eating something it isn't an enjoyable experience for me and it will be a worse experience later on. Everyone has different tolerances though so I understand that it may not do that to others.
 
Shadybiz

Shadybiz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,107
A friend of mine recently told me that Taco Bell's Fire Sauce is way too spicy.

I'm not the kind of guy who likes his insides burned out, but Fire Sauce?? ...A bit tangy, maybe.
 
Cation

Cation

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,603
Honestly every time I go to any Asian (Indian, Thai, anything) I get pissed cause I get stereotyped for loving spice cause I'm brown lol.

I hate spice. Give me a 0 pls
 
LBsquared

LBsquared

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 22, 2019
1,603
TheFallenSaboteur said:
I like spicy food but not to the point where I can describe it as painful. At that point it's stupid as fuck. I also have a high tolerance for spice.
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People who eat hot food just for the heat at the expense of taste are as stupid as people who use headphones that emphasize bass to the point of drowning out the other sounds/instruments.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,404
Well, there's your problem. You think spicy stuff is supposed to be hot, but it's supposed to be hot. The temperature is hot, the taste is spicy.

My being a pedantic dick aside, there are plenty of things that say they're spicy and are, but it depends on what you're looking for. TBH, I hate when something is supposed to be spicy and that's the only thing I taste. Spicy for the sake of destroying your taste buds and stomach with capsaicin isn't good unless you're doing ti for a contest or a painful bowel cleansing.
Shadybiz said:
A friend of mine recently told me that Taco Bell's Fire Sauce is way too spicy.

I'm not the kind of guy who likes his insides burned out, but Fire Sauce?? ...A bit tangy, maybe.
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Eh, the diablo is actually a little spicy, certainly more than anything else they normally serve, but the mild and fire aren't much of anything, just tomato salsas. I want to try the reaper taco soon to see how it is, though.
 
Chikor

Chikor

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,239
hikarutilmitt said:
Well, there's your problem. You think spicy stuff is supposed to be hot, but it's supposed to be hot. The temperature is hot, the taste is spicy.

My being a pedantic dick aside, there are plenty of things that say they're spicy and are, but it depends on what you're looking for. TBH, I hate when something is supposed to be spicy and that's the only thing I taste. Spicy for the sake of destroying your taste buds and stomach with capsaicin isn't good unless you're doing ti for a contest or a painful bowel cleansing.
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Peppers are not the only spice, food can be spicy but not hot.
Though I think just like when people say something is hot, you can almost always understand what they mean from context.
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,028
Shadybiz said:
A friend of mine recently told me that Taco Bell's Fire Sauce is way too spicy.

I'm not the kind of guy who likes his insides burned out, but Fire Sauce?? ...A bit tangy, maybe.
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I just think Fire sauce tastes like shit. The regular taco bell "hot" sauce isn't really hot but at least it has a decent flavor to it.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,404
Chikor said:
Peppers are not the only spice, food can be spicy but not hot.
Though I think just like when people say something is hot, you can almost always understand what they mean from context.
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See, now we're just digging further whether something is spicy versus spiced. Just saying "hot" without context that may not be readily apparent could mean either one and the reactions are sometimes similar but not the same.

Don't get me going on salsa versus hot sauce.
 
Eros

Eros

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,656
tangeu said:
I just hate when I get served "white man" level of spicy
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "Very hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me frustrated "As hot as you can make it"
Them rolling their eyes "ooookkkaaaayyyyy"
*food is literally inedible*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Just had some curry from my favorite Thai spot for lunch an hour ago. Ordered it hot over the phone, got it hot. Wiping my nose, little bit of sweat beads, it's great.
 
Illusion

Illusion

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,407
tangeu said:
I just hate when I get served "white man" level of spicy
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me "Very hot please"
*food tastes like they maybe looked at a pepper while cooking it*
Next time
Thai/Indian/Chinese/Korean etc. restaurant "How spicy?"
Me frustrated "As hot as you can make it"
Them rolling their eyes "ooookkkaaaayyyyy"
*food is literally inedible*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yep.

But then again I can eat the inedible concoction and that's a better meal then nothing.

You can just order a regular hot or mild and combine the two at home to have a perfectly spiced meal.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,404
Eros said:
Just had some curry from my favorite Thai spot for lunch an hour ago. Ordered it hot over the phone, got it hot. Wiping my nose, little bit of sweat beads, it's great.
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The best Thai places will ask on your scale and the scale will be legit. Place by me that has a scale of 0-10 and be damned if rice I can do a 5 easily but I have to drop to a 3 or my Pad Kee Mao or Pad Woon Sen becomes impossible to eat without ruining my stomach (taste buds are fine). I made the mistake of starting with a 6 one time and...yeah. That was a long weekend.
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,559
LBsquared said:
People who eat hot food just for the heat at the expense of taste are as stupid as people who use headphones that emphasize bass to the point of drowning out the other sounds/instruments.
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While I'm sure those people exist, there are some who have impaired senses of taste and smell thet end up focusing on different aspects of food such as spiciness, temperature and texture to derive enjoyment from them.
 
Eros

Eros

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,656
hikarutilmitt said:
The best Thai places will ask on your scale and the scale will be legit. Place by me that has a scale of 0-10 and be damned if rice I can do a 5 easily but I have to drop to a 3 or my Pad Kee Mao or Pad Woon Sen becomes impossible to eat without ruining my stomach (taste buds are fine). I made the mistake of starting with a 6 one time and...yeah. That was a long weekend.
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Yep this place does that. I just know what to tell them since I've been going there for 10 years lol. If you order Thai hot, they will double check with you because their Thai hot is fucking HOT. While there are some that can take spicy better than I can, I'm pretty food with spice. I can't do their Thai hot. I've tried.
 
0ptimusPayne

0ptimusPayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
I'd agree with you, if there weren't a shit ton of Indian, Mexican, Thai, ect options all over this big ass country. Hell if you go to a real BBQ joint, they have plenty of spicy Sauces you can get with your meats. Helps that I live in South Florida though lol.
 
andrew

andrew

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,906
I'm still curious what dish/restaurant it was the OP ordered that was advertised as spicy but failed to live up to that billing. we might never know, they've disappeared
 
finalflame

finalflame

Product Management
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,538
I literally got a 5 minute disclaimer recently when trying to order "Thai spicy" level of heat (per the menu) at a Thai place, with multiple confirmations over whether I had eaten there before, they won't take it back if it's too hot, etc. It took a solid amount of convincing to get them to even serve me the "hot", which I conceded as it was one below "Thai spicy", and asked for additional pepper on the side.

It was definitely still not hot enough for my palette and they should've just given me the "Thai spicy" to begin with. I look white but am Brazilian.

Anyway, yah, most people in the U.S. when they ask for spicy want something akin to mild buffalo sauce and not actually spicy food.
 
harry the spy

harry the spy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,078
Don't go to Europe, OP. You should check French people on spicy stuff, is pretty comical.

I feel spicy food is pretty spicy. I remember going with a bunch of Indian interns to an Indian restaurant and they clearly seemed to think that place was very spicy (depends on where they were from and where the food was from, but I am not sure I knew)
 
Culex

Culex

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
6,844
OP needs to read the Flaming Hot thread - there are legit face melting snacks in there
 
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