Why do people who live in hot climates seem be associated more with hot, spicy foods? (e.g. Latin America, India, etc)
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Food goes bad faster in hot climates, strong spices can mask the flavor of meat that has sat in the hot sun a bit too long.
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Many of the hotter spices don’t grow commonly in colder climates.
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Eating spicey foods can cool you off, as it makes you sweat and your capillaries dilate.
A few of the most popular spices used to make hot food prefer the soil and climate in those regions. Chiles and mustard spices grow well in the hotter regions and tolerate arid conditions.
Badtz and Phil nailed three top reasons. Add that, in sultry, steaming climates, folks don’t feel like eating as much as they would if they had to stoke up to battle the cold. Making the food extra-tasty (spicy) lures everyone to the dinner table. The scent and flavor excites the appetite.
The atmosphere in New Orleans in the summertime, for example, can barely sustain human life. Only by developing such a yummy local cuisine were they able to stave off starvation in the masses.