Global warming: Why the world has taken to chilies | Hacker News Reader

Global warming: Why the world has taken to chilies

economist.com

24 pointsrobg12 comments

For folks who are excessively literal thinkers and read it 3 times trying to find the "global warming" angle, let me do the work so you don't have to: it is a pun.

And in the south it's warmer...if you know what I mean.

Several years ago I used to find black pepper too spicy, then one day I put on some hot sauce and kinda liked it, so I started adding a bit to every meal. Just as with programming or music, when you push yourself and go a bit beyond your limit, you get good. Well, after several years of this, I now eat frightening amounts of spice. If I want a spicy meal, I use about 2-3ml of 600000 scoville sauce, which isn't too much in hothead circles but would cause a lot of pain in most people.

You do have to be careful though...

(warning! incoming anecdote!)

My grandfather grew peppers and ate massive amounts of them. When he was old though, he lost his sense of taste. It was really sad to see him put Tabasco sauce on everything just to be able to taste it.

This is why I like to keep my tastes pretty tame. I specifically search out 'tangy' sauces rather than simply 'hot' sauces. When I eat whole or sliced peppers, I cut out the membrane on the spicier varieties because I'm more interested in the taste than assaulting my senses.

If you can't tell that a bell pepper has a tiny bit of zesty spice to it, your choice of peppers is too spicy and you are destroying your sense of taste.

I'm originally from Louisiana. I have yet to encounter a place with better food, I lost 20 lbs. when I moved away. However outside of Louisiana, Cajun food simply mean pour Cayenne pepper on it. There is a whole lot more to Cajun (or Creole, which is different) cooking than heat. Generally the heat level should be enough to feel but not enough to overpower the the other spices. This level varies from person to person depending on how much spicy food they typically eat. I've met a cook from Commander's Palace in New Orleans once and he admitted to spicing differently based on where he thought someone was from.

Speaking of peppery I just made some Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup, it's great! Not very spicy as the name implies but you can always add more hot sauce, paprika or hotter peppers (I used Bell Peppers).

Here is the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roasted-Red-Pepper-and-Tomato-S...

Thank you. That's an excellent recipe. I just made the soup and it was very delicious. A lot of work, but it's worth it.

"Among other things, that may give a scientific explanation for the habit, not formally researched, of snorting the 'pink fix' (a mixture of cocaine and chili powder)."

Anyone have any more information on this?

Although without any information on the real "pink fix", this MetaFilter thread on chili peppers is quite awesome:

http://www.metafilter.com/58885/Pink-fix

Teaser: capsaicin works by hacking our heat and pain receptors. It's a signal, telling us there is danger when there is actually nothing wrong going on.

Its presence in chili peppers may evolved for discrimination among animals that would digest seeds (mammals) vs. ones that would just spread seeds (birds).

...the Aji (pronounced ah-hee), a Peruvian chili, which "ripens to bright yellow, with a strong lemony taste when fresh, very zesty. When dried it picks up a banana flavour."

Being peruvian, I am just a bit biased, but the Aji Peper just tastes great with anything. I remember Sundays back home when my mother 'd cook a simple chicken soup to which I would add some Aji and make the perfect soup. Something so simple, yet so good. It is a taste I have never had again outside of Peru.

I don't get the connection between the article and global warming but have heard that Mr. O's transition team is discussing the possibility of starting a policy initiative that makes it against the law to be a "Global Warming Denier".

So here we are. It's 2010 and it's OK to make porn movie because that activity is protected by the first amendment.

But, boy, if you don't believe in "Human Caused Global Warming" and you haven't bought any of those Carbon Offsets..

Well, the constitution isn't going to be able to help you there. You just went too far over the line.

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