Thought of the Day #29 - How I learnt to like Spicy.

You know how 

The year is 2003, just before the SARS holidays. I was in the dining hall, which is divided into a staff section and the student's section. The only difference? The staff section had little square tables, each with a salt/pepper shaker, a tissue dispenser and Tabasco.

The year is 2008. I am sitting in a dining hall with a hundred hungry American kids, waiting for dinner. On the table top is a big glass bottle of Tabasco sauce. This was my chance! Like the cliched scene where a kid tries smoking for the first time and coughs, I try a single drop. And it was disgusting.

But the guys on my table were doing it. I look to the far end of the table and see our counselor liberally sprinkle sauce on his pasta. And I try another drop on my tomatoes. I had caught the Tabasco bug.

Up till then, I didn't have much love for spicy. I mean, family would occasionally do a little spicy, but that was it. Nothing else.

Back in HK, the first thing I did was go get Tabasco from the supermarket. And the more things I ate with Tabasco, the more it seemed to enhance everything.

In places without Tabasco, I tried various local Chilli sauces and oils.

Here's the top 5 reasons why I like spicy.

1. Happy!

Spicy makes me happy. It's scientifically proven to activate TRPV-1 receptors.

2. Exciting!

Spicy is exciting. Self-explanatory...

3. Makes eating a challenge. 
 
Once upon a night, I was bored after work. I went to Tam Tsai and ordered the maximum 大辣. That was some serious sh*t. The first mouthful was literally like eating fire. The second was like burning a third degree burn. Mind was screaming stop. Brain felt like it was being overloaded. My mouth was on fire, brow was sweating probably as much as there was soup and stomach was burning up. It took me an hour to finish, and until the next day to stop feeling burned.

Strangely I was very happy. In fact, I'm salivating now.

4. Spicy is variety.

There are few place on earth I've been to where spicy doesn't come up. Korean spicy grill is different from Japanese spicy ramen is very unlike 四川麻辣. Each is its own challenge.

5. Spicy encourages salivation, increasing appetite.

Restaurants know spicy is the shortcut to gaining happy, hungry customers. McDonald's with its spicy chicken burgers, KFC with spicy fried chicken, MiXian of different hotness levels...the list goes on and on.

6. Spicy can clean out the respiratory tract, nasal cavities.

Had a hard day in highly polluted areas? No problem! A hot bowl of spicy topped with extra chilli sauce will get your self-made saline, tears, mucus and saliva flowing in notime, cleansing you of evil dust!

7. Spicy may cause certain cancers and prevent others.

I've heard that spicy could cause throat and colon cancer, but also how it may prevent prostate cancer.

8. Spicy reduces pain.

I haven't tried this on real pain yet, but spicy definitely relieves some soreness after sports.

9. Spicy wakes me up.

One thing I like to do when I have time in the mornings, is spicy toast. Basically, the hottest chilli paste/fresh red chilis on bread, toasted to get the oils into the bread and evaporating the oil to leave a higher concentration of hotness. Nothing like spicy toast and tabasco+pepper on eggs to start the day.

Alright, I'm going to stop here. I'm just salivating too much just writing this... : |