I love spicy ethnic food - Chinese, Mexican, etc.
Just about every culture has hot, spicy style of cooking in its repertoire - South America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa (at least the northern part).
Why not Western Europe? Did the English, Irish, French, etc. get heartburn easily or something? Some Italian food gets a little spicy, but even there it’s a stretch.
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What I heard (from a friend, etc) was that hot spices promote perspiration which aids in keeping cool in hot climates.
Most of Europe has a temperate climate with little need for cooling. By the time you get to Sweden you’ve got pasty-skinned blondes eating lutefisk.
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Do any “hot” plants naturally grow in that region? You’ll typically find jalepeno-based hot sauces in areas where jalepenos grow, Sctoch-bonnet based hot sauces in areas where they grow, horseradish based…you get the idea. Even though regions do have their own hot dishes, they typically won’t find a japanese hot sauce/dish (green horseradish) in South America.
What spicy plants are native to Europe?
And Hungarian food can be pretty spicy.
I’ve had cuisine from South America and Africa and never thought it was particularly spicy. Maybe I didn’t try the right dishes.
I don’t know if this is actually true, but, the theory I’ve heard is that it is related to climate (notice it is the southern Chinese, not the northern, which is most spicy). Peppers don’t just taste hot, they actually fool the heat sensors at our nerve ends. According to the theory, this causes the body to overreact and try to shed extra body heat by more sweating. The end result is that the body cools off more than it ordinarily would- a pleasing sensation in a hot climate.
well, that’ll teach me to respond quicker- not only did Pluto beat me by 8 minutes, but he worded it a lot better 
What, cod marinated in Draino isn’t spicy enough for you? I still shudder every time Garrison Keillor refers to it as “fish Jello.”
Interesting topic.
I checked out the old trusty Britannica web site and the origins are primarily in the tropics of Asia and “equitorial” areas of the western hemisphere.
Apparently the Spainards carried the seeds with them to Europe.
I don’t think that living in a “hot” climate has anything to do with the cuisine in a certain region. I think it is more that peppers are native to those areas, much like potatoes are not native to hot climates…I don’t see too many potato dishes in Mexico…although there are tuber dishes all over the world.
To make a long paragraph short, what is native to the region is more likely to show up in regional cuisine.
Clarification, what I meant was, people living in a hot climate don’t eat spicy foods because it cools them, it’s because it’s a regionally available food. (bell peppers are in the same clasification as jalepenos, serranos, etc.)
Nah.
It’s that people have less of an appetite in hot, humid climates. The food has to tantalize the nostrils and the taste buds, or people won’t come to the table.
You’ve noticed a greater tendency to chow down in the late fall and wintertime, right? When a nice salad is all you want in August?
Look around the US. Up in New England, they produced beans baked with molasses and salt pork. Down in New Orleans, they cook their beans with loads of garlic and strong spices, and serve Tabasco on the side.
It’s my considered belief that New Orleans food is so good because otherwise the natives wouldn’t bother to eat at ALL in that miserable climate.
Uke
Thus explaining the British Empire. The whole thing was an exercise designed solely to get the Royalty some decent food for a change.
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Spanish food is, in general, not spicy at all. Most Americans who come over here think of the local cuisine as pretty bland. Spicy Latin American food does not go over well here at all. Why, I have no idea, though there is a local saying that if you have to spice up food, then it’s low quality. That is, fish in a spicy sauce has probably seen its better days and the spice is used to cover up the poor quality of the basis of the dish.
I have also heard that hot spices tend to disguise “rancid” meat. Makes sense to me that meat would turn faster in a hot climate.
Slightly OT, but one words my friend Bruce and I live by:
“It’s not really food if it doesn’t hurt.”
– Bruce Eliot, 1992
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The only other thing I’ve heard is that peppers were/are used in areas where the dishes were primarily meatless staples - beans, rice, and pasta. If you eat the same thing over and over and over again, you’d probably be willing to throw a couple of jalepenos in there to see what would happen too.
I’m sure the Irish would have spiced up their potatoes, if only they could grow peppers in that climate.
I have also heard that spices were used more heavily in hotter climates because food tends to spoil more quickly, and the spice can mask the flavor of meat that’s past its prime. Not that the above is so much an issue these days, but in the past it might have been a good way to avoid wasting food while keeping it palatable.
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