One day I will tell you about the hot sauce I tried and made me quit all that shit. Made in the Venezuelan side of the Amazonian region and one of the components was the heads of the local fire ants. Formic acid brings a new level of pain and suffering to the gourmet experience.
I went to SEAR training back in 71 in preparation for going to South Vietnam. I was told by instructors, American & Vietnamese, that the Vietnamese Nuac mam sauce ( made from dried fish ) was so hot, that when they started eating American food it would take about six months for their taste buds to recover and they could actually taste again. My question; why put something on your food so spicy that you cannot taste anything other than the crap? Oh, that’s not nice, how about overbearing junk? Still bad? I’ll think about it and get back to you. ;-))
Mrs. B. noticed a while back there seems to be a correlation between heat (as opposed to just spicy) and latitude: the closer to the equator you are, the hotter the food tends to be. Conversely, the closer to the poles, the blander. (Of course, this is not an absolute rule; but as a general trend it seems reasonably valid.)
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Her hypothesis is, food tends to spoil more quickly in warmer climates, so heavy “hot” seasoning could do two things. One, it might serve as a preservative; and two, it might help to cover the taste of food that has started to go “off” but is still technically edible.
I never thought of that, but I can’t disagree with your wife. Probably any better than you can. ;-))
When I was in seventh grade our family moved from Utah (almost as bland as Minnesota) to New Orleans where Tabasco sauce and/or Louisiana Red Hot was on nearly every restaurant table with the ketchup and mustard. I acquired a taste for spicy food and earned the title of the family “pepperbelly.” Many years and several states latter, and yes beer was involved, I was at a restaurant with friends and I, being a pepperbelly, a little drunk, and letting my macho loose I ordered the “Hot” version of an entree. OMG, my taste buds were fried, I was sweating profusely, my nose was running continuously, my eyes were full of tears, and I thought I was going to die. After that I still enjoy spicy foods but I gave up d**k measuring contests with high Scoville peppers.