I luv you, hot stuff!

Growing up I was a picky eater. Much of that may have come from not being able to eat anything spicy. Any bit of hot seemed to set my tongue on fire until I couldn’t taste the food. It was like torture, but at least I didn’t have problems in my stomach or elsewhere like some people. I had given up on spicy foods by the time I was in my 20s. Any tiny amount of spice and I couldn’t eat it…so sad.

Several years ago I came upon a Mexican restaurant by the name of El Rancho Grande. The salsa is the type that is more tomato puree than anything; fiery tomato puree. I enjoyed the taste so much that every time I ate there I ate the salsa in huge amounts until I was sweating and my mouth was in terrible pain. I usually couldn’t taste my meal until halfway through eating it if then.

What I never imagined happening – happened! I built up a tolerance for spicy foods! For several years now I have been eating spicy foods with great abandon! Red pepper flakes on pizza, spicy Korean foods, and salsa, oh yes, salsa. Now when I order an item on a menu that says “spicy” or “hot” next to it, I usually don’t bat an eye. In the past few years I haven’t got that “I can’t eat this, it hurts my mouth too much” feeling except once. I ordered Yook gae jang at a Korean restaurant near Dayton. That almost killed me, but thinking about it now, my mouth waters! That soup literally made me sweat! I had to pause frequently during the meal to give my mouth a break.

I think because spicy foods were a forbidden fruit for me for most of my life I probably go overboard with it now. I like the tingle of spice in the back of my throat when I eat something a bit spicy, but I tend to take it past that until my nose runs. I remember eating pizza with Dionisio and thinking he had put too many red pepper flakes and now I’m the one doing that to him. It’s just a little thing, but it feels like a door was opened for me as far as food options. There isn’t much I won’t try now.