I was raised on a bland diet: neither of my parents is fond of spicy food, so my mother never cooked it. We didn't eat out to speak of, so I wasn't exposed to it that way either.
I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Why eat food that was painful? But when I started dating in college and going out to more restaurants, I found that I really liked Asian food, especially Thai food. Most Thai food is spicy, although I understand that American restaurants tone this down for wimpy white person taste buds. So if I had to learn to like spicy food to eat Thai, that was a trade-off at least worth considering.
So I've been working on this for years now, slowly, and now I'm mostly on a par with Rachel, who had the advantage of growing up with Tabasco sauce. Tonight I made Thai beef salad with Serrano peppers (substituted for the "thai red peppers" it called for; I'm pretty sure they are not to be found in San Antonio), and our guests commented that Serranos are spicier than Jalapenos.
I was pleased, because when I was a kid I thought Jalapenos were very, very spicy. Of course I knew by now that Jalapenos are really at the bottom of the minor leagues for spiciness, but hey: progress.
(Only recently did I learn that "the whole point of spicy food is that at first it is painful, causing the release of endorphins to the brain. With time the pain goes away and you still get the endorphins." A light turned on...)
2 comments:
I grew up in a home where my mother liked to eat pickled jalapenos out of the jar, but it still took me awhile to appreciate spicy food.
Bland food?
Come on, we had pepperoni pizza sometimes.
Also, Grant went on his "I can't put enough of Frank's Hot Sauce on everything phase", but you missed that cause you were so eager to spread your wings and head west.
:P
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