From: s342046@emu.insted.unimelb.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants,rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Why do people like hot-spicy food?
Date: 4 Sep 92 11:48:50 GMT
 <1992Aug24.184036.370@ole.cdac.com> <22298@venera.isi.edu>

Why do people eat spicy food?


In article <22298@venera.isi.edu>, jlacoss@isi.edu (Jeff LaCoss) writes:
> (Shailendra Save) writes:

>>(Judy Tolliver) writes:
>>>(John Shipman)
>>>wrote:
>>>> Someone in ba.food asked why people deliberately eat very
>>>> spicy food........
>>>An anthropologist friend once told me that spicy food is eaten so much in
>>>the tropics because it helps the body cope with the hot weather by
>>>promoting sweat or something like that.
> 
>>  Could be that the tropics were the only areas where the spices grew,
>>and so the people had a better access to it over a period of time, giving
>>them a chance to experiment and include it in their daily cuisine.  The
>>spice trade in the 13-14 century was well known, bringing different spices
>>to the Europeans who had hitherto not heard of (much less tasted) them.
> 
>  Close, but no cigar. The "spice trade" was for black pepper, mace,
> allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, etc., which come from Indonesia
> and the surrounding area. The Arabs and Eastern Europeans had these
> spices indirectly from SE Asia LONG before Western Europe established
> direct contact.
> 
>  What we call "spicy" foods comes from the addition of hot peppers of
> varying sorts, which come from the New World. I seem to recall that
> ALL hot peppers originated in the Andes and so were not just a
> post-Columbian transfer, but post Incan-conquest. (Some of the
> Peruvian food I've had, at restaurants and at friends' houses, I would
> match against any other variety in terms of heat content.)
> 
>  If you want to try pre-Columbian Indian food, particularly curry, use
> a generous dose of garam masala and leave the hot peppers out. It
> tastes great, but obviously lacks the kick we know and love. (My
> Indian friends all subscribe to the "sweat theory" of blazing-hot
> tropical dishes).
> 
> 
> 	Jeff
> 
>  By the way, in MY one brush with anthro, I heard that the cross-
> cultural diffusion of tobacco - another gift of the New World - from
> Europe to Asia was so fast that it was fully incorporated in local
> cultures before Europeans managed to establish regular direct contact
> with the areas.
>  When ya gotta great product, it sells itself (chi-chi-cha).
-- 


I read a recent article in the Australian edition of 'New Scientist' which
as a lover of the odd chilli or two got me interested.  It mentioned some
research done in Sydney by the CSIRO, into the affects of chilli, and more
particularly its active ingredient 'capsaicin'.

They had found that capsaicin although tasteless in itself stimulated the
trigemminal (hope I spelled that right) nerve producing a pain-like sensation
which triggered the release of endorphins in the brain.  They found also
that adding a solution of capsaicin to regular foods increased their 
percieved flavour, including sweet tasting items!

This theory sounds right to me, I can remember commenting to my partner
one night while eating a HOT HOT vindaloo, that I felt like I was having
a psychedelic experience. Now I know why - I was.


Jane Anna Langley
s342046@emu.insted.unimelb.edu.au
University of Melbourne, Institute of Education
Melbourne, Australia.
Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants