# Your Tolerance for Spicy Foods **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483 "2009-10-20T15:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/41 "2009-10-20T18:32:23Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I have this theory, you see. My theory is that people who love super-spicy foods have some kind of problem with their taste buds that inhibits their ability to taste foods. I think Mrs. Homie has this problem; she pours tabasco sauce on everything she eats - well, tabasco sauce and/or salt. > > That or they like waving their dicks. šŸ˜‰ Clearly something is wrong with her taste buds if she has a preference for Tabasco. I guess Iā€™m dick-waving because I chose the ā€œNo pepper can take me down!ā€ option. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/42 "2009-10-20T18:36:06Z")
None of the local Thai places make food that even registers on my personal heat scale. I have to tell them ā€œThai hot,ā€ and even then itā€™s only mildly spicy. I have to drive about 30 miles to find one that gives me that wonderful burn. eta: I grew my own habaneros this year. Wonderful things. I chop them up and put them in just about everything. Tonightā€™s beef stew got three of them. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/43 "2009-10-20T18:55:00Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I adore it. When I traveled away from Sichuan, I came away from meals disappointed because I didnā€™t get that rush that you get from eating spicy food. Now and then Iā€™ll come across a dish that is too spicy for me to enjoy, but in general spicy=good for me. Thatā€™s exactly what I love about really spicy food. I get a really great adrenaline rush from eating it. Itā€™s a really great natural high! I loooooove getting my Thai food extremely hot (Iā€™ll ask for Thai hot and I hate when they Whitespice[sup]TM[/sup] me even after that!), but I also know that not every food (or even every traditionally spicy food) needs to always be hot. I quite enjoy no spice dishes and I quite enjoy my ā€œThai thatā€™s apparently so hot that my co-worker put the teeniest dab of the sauce on his pinkie and tried it and that part of his tongue apparently tingled for 40 minutesā€ spicy dishes. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/44 "2009-10-20T18:57:28Z")
I went with Naga Jolokia, with the stipulation that sometimes foods are scientifically much too hot for me, and perhaps outside of enjoyment and delving into the tortuous, but I will still eat them and even enjoy it in some cases. Although, I do prefer my very spicy along with considerable flavor, for example I love a vindaloo not just for the heat, but for the nutty onions, the garlic, and all of the other curry spices, or a Thai curry for the sweet counterbalance of the coconut milk, the hints of fish sauce, and the lemony-anise overtones. I was just recently commenting on my tolerence to chiles with a friend after having watched the recent [Man vs. Food, ā€œFire in your Holeā€ wings FAIL](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aW4H6ORz04)! Now, these wings are made with Habanero, Cayenne, and Nag Jolokia Ghost pepper **extract** ā€¦ and she bet that I couldnā€™t do it either, and I had to concede that no, I probably couldnā€™t do it, but there is a posssibility that I might be able to eat them, because I have eaten four wings that were absolutely caked and slathered in pure, [Daveā€™s Insanity Sauce](http://carolinasauce.stores.yahoo.net/2f0001-1062204841.html) (and I took the remaining 3, to go, and ate them for dinner the next day.) That incident arose as a challenge to a cook at a wing restaurant playing a trick on meā€¦ I asked him to give me the hottest wings they had, and well, he took it quite literally and simply tossed them in at least a half bottle of Daveā€™s insanity sauce. Now, these were not just your average wings eitherā€¦ they substituted actual chicken legs for the normal wing drumettes and just used the large fryer, wing tips otherwise. So, they were huge wings totally caked in Insanity sauce. I ate as many as I could, thanked the laughing cook, and took the rest to go with tears in my eyes. Of course, I genuinely believe one can build up a tolerence to chiles with enough constant exposure (similar to alcohol tolerence, maybe?). I havenā€™t been eating as many spicy chiles of late (no garden this year) so my tolerence is probably low at this point and I would probably immediately go into throes of hiccups at the Fire in the Hole challenge. The hiccups would probably happen eventually anyways, but just not as quickly if I have some tolerence built up. The hiccupping is the threshold test for me to determine if something is truly spicy, and I hate those hiccups- just totally painful. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/45 "2009-10-20T18:58:28Z")
I base my vote (Anaheim pepper) on the fact that I accidentally ate some jalapeno last summer and it damn near erased me from the face of the earth. I like Chinese mustard on egg rolls and mixed in with fried rice and soy sauce. Also, my reflux condition limits how much spicy Iā€™m supposed to have. Technically to zero, but a manā€™s gotta have egg rolls, am I right? ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/46 "2009-10-20T19:00:29Z")
I like the spicy to be right between runny-nose and eye-water. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/47 "2009-10-20T19:31:10Z")
The poll said spicy not how hot with capsicum and a bell pepper is spicy to me. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/48 "2009-10-20T19:40:15Z")
Iā€™ll take them nearly as hot as I can get them. I think I have about 2# of dried peppers in the pantry. I used to attempt to grow them, but it just doesnā€™t seem to work so well in my garden. I will, however, remind all the other chili heads to wear gloves while chopping, and NEVER EVER EVER ā€œtouchā€ your wife with any hot pepper remnants on your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/49 "2009-10-20T19:50:38Z")
I like heat. I donā€™t really like the taste of peppers. I like rooster sauce on a lot of things. I like the heat more than the taste, and Iā€™ve been told that I like my gumbo pretty dang hot. So I went with jalepeƱo, even though, honestly, I freaking hate 'em, and I like things _hotter_ than that. If I want heat, itā€™s rooster sauce or dried chilis. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/50 "2009-10-20T19:53:01Z")
I put serrano, since I usually (but not always) prefer something a little hotter than jalapenos. Go back about 10 years, and there was something of a ā€œhot and spicyā€ craze around here, the malls all had ā€œhot sauce boothsā€, and there were even a few small stores that sold nothing but hot and spicy sauces, salsas, dips, etc. Back then I used to love me some habanero stuffed olives, could eat raw habaneros, and generally the hotter the better. Iā€™ve mellowed out a bit since, and I still like things with a kick, but not usually on the habanero level. BTW I think habaneros taste better than jalapenos, for those that said habaneros bring nothing but heat. Thereā€™s better tasting peppers, but I disagree that habaneros are hot and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/51 "2009-10-20T19:54:24Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > I will, however, remind all the other chili heads to wear gloves while chopping, and NEVER EVER EVER ā€œtouchā€ your wife with any hot pepper remnants on your hands. Hot peppers are why I have a box of disposable vinyl gloves in my kitchen. Never had any ā€œintimate accidentsā€ (against self or husband) but I donā€™t care to risk it! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/52 "2009-10-20T20:00:20Z")
People are always telling me when I ask if something is spicy ā€œoh, itā€™s not too spicyā€ - but then I tell them that if I eat too much ketchup my mouth burns. So then they say ā€œok well then itā€™s too spicy for you.ā€ One time my friend really wanted Chipotle burritos, so I went with him. He said to be safe, just get the plain meat with no salsa. I got the plain meat, and after one bite my lips swelled and my face turned red. It took me about a half hour to come down from it. Last week I bought some Bob Evansā€™ Original Recipe Mashed Potatoes from the store. The stuff that is just mashed potatoes that you heat up. There was black pepper in it, barely enough to see, and I found it to be quite spicy. So, Iā€™m just gonna sit here in the Bell Pepper camp with my friend **Harmonious Discord** , and avoid spices. Nutcases, the lot of you! šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/53 "2009-10-20T20:07:03Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > A link to the [Scoville scale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale) may help people judge how spicy they like it here. Please note this is only for ā€œheatā€ caused by [capsaicin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin), other ā€œspicyā€ sources, such as black peppercorns, are not listed. > > Enjoy, > Steven I was surprised, and a little ashamed, to discover that peperoncinis, which are about as hot as I generally like, are near the bottom of the scale. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/54 "2009-10-20T20:11:26Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > I like the spicy to be right between runny-nose and eye-water. Right here too! Jalapenoā€™s take me there with ease and ecstasy. šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/55 "2009-10-20T20:26:45Z")
I loves me some cayenne and chipotle peppers! Iā€™m fortunate to be with someone who also likes somewhat spicy food. I donā€™t overdo it because that would be crazy but spicinā€™ up a meal is a good thing, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/56 "2009-10-20T20:26:54Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I was surprised, and a little ashamed, to discover that peperoncinis, which are about as hot as I generally like, are near the bottom of the scale. Why ashamed? Youā€™re talking about not having a preference for something which is essentially a biological weapon, evolved by fruits to prevent fungal infection. It later served as a deterrent for mammal based predation. Youā€™re hard-wired NOT to like this stuff. Even those who are proud of their tolerance for spicy foods tend towards the bottom of the scale. Check out [Scott Robertā€™s pictoral guide to the Scoville scale](http://www.scottrobertsweb.com/scoville-scale.php) and youā€™ll see that MOST of the items, even far below the Jalapeno heat level, are branded ā€œfireā€ or ā€œXtra Redhotā€. Some of the stuff at the top of the list is considered weaponry, literally. This is not a shortcoming, or something you need to feel obligated to change. Youā€™re the norm actually. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/57 "2009-10-20T20:27:18Z")
Jalapenos are just about right for me to munch on straight: You can feel the heat, but it doesnā€™t mask the flavor, either. In any sort of dish mixed with other things, though, I go for something hotter. Iā€™ve only ever once found a restaurant that went higher than my preferences. Thereā€™s a chicken place just off campus at Villanova University where the scale goes something like Mild - Medium - Hot - Extra Hot - Liquid Fire, and my optimum is somewhere between Hot and Extra Hot. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/58 "2009-10-20T21:10:54Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I have this theory, you see. My theory is that people who love super-spicy foods have some kind of problem with their taste buds that inhibits their ability to taste foods. I think Mrs. Homie has this problem; she pours tabasco sauce on everything she eats - well, tabasco sauce and/or salt. > > That or they like waving their dicks. šŸ˜‰ Hehe, but really, heat isnā€™t the same as flavor, although sometimes it can cover it up. For example, I donā€™t eat habaneros by themselves in any circumstance, although if I wanted to dick-wave Iā€™d say that I do. They make fine additions to lots of foods, though, and if you soak them in vinegar with some onion, they make a nice, fiery relish. I will eat serranos raw or cooked, though, but chilies are variable. Sometimes a serrano will kick my butt. JalepeƱos can sometimes be that way, but only raw. The pickled, canned ones all kind of blend into a mellow nothingness that makes it not worth it. Tabasco, for the record, makes a fine addition to many things, but like any ingredient, you have to match it to the right dish. I donā€™t want to use habanero salsa with my scrambled eggs, but the acidity (not hotness) of Tabasco goes well. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/59 "2009-10-20T21:19:45Z")
Serranos are my limit for eating straight up but Iā€™ve only been out spiced twice in food dishes. Once my uncle put about two table spoons of Horseradish on an oyster for me and that knocked me out of my chair I was coughing so hard but to be fair when we bought some to take home it ate through the styrofoam container on the plane flight home (12 hours). The second time I put about 5 capfuls of Daveā€™s insanity sauce in a half bowl of chili and I ate about half the bowl before the pain was too much. I can be burned out but it takes a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483/60 "2009-10-20T23:17:28Z")
I love hot food, and I love spicy food. Real hot, real spicy. I guess I was born without taste buds because I really prefer strong flavors. I love the taste of peppers, especially the Thai peppers. Iā€™ve never been served food that was too hot for me to eat. [waves dick merrily] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tolerance-for-spicy-foods/514483.md?page=4)