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I can more than agree with this. And that gap between 1 and 2 is appropriate as well. Alot of Thai places will dial it down for the farang palate, but I've had Thai people cook for me and ate at authentic Thai restaurants alongside Thai people, where they had to read me the menu, or I had to look at the picture menu. As they say "pet mak mak" . And God forbid you accidentally eat one of the chili peppers, wholesale, they put in their food.
I've spent quite a lot of time in Thailand and always asked them to make it as spicy as the locals like it. Some places people prefer spicier than others. Sometimes it can really hit you in the face.
Some Chinese food builds up to a higher level though imho. Doesn't seem as hot at first, especially with some numbing from Sichuan peppers, but halfway through you're really feeling it. I remember some noodle soup I had...thought the green chilis were a vegetable to eat...first time food has made me cry in a long time. A dozen or so of those and the fluids really start coming out. Green chilis are spicier than red in case someone didn't know.
Sichuan hot pot can be almost inedibly spicy at times.
For reference, if I order Thai food in the states I usually ask for 15 out of 10 for spiciness. So I like my food spicier than the vast majority of Americans.
Check out the Chengdu episode of bizarre foods sometime.
Real Sichuan and Hunan food is almost unavailable in western countries so people are unaware of it. Actually the vast majority of Chinese cuisine is completely unknown in the west. I've only had maybe 1 or 2 dishes at restaurants here that I was familiar with. Almost all the Chinese food in western countries is either westernized or from the south. I used to do all my shopping at Asian aupermarkets and I've encountered a lot of vegetables and ingredients here I'd never even heard of before. Constantly surprised.
Not only Sichuan, Chongqing and Hunan. Jiangxi, Northern Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Yunnan cuisines are also full of chili. And chili orginated in Mexico and spreaded to Asia via the coastal ports, but coastal Chinese cuisines are not spicy, only the inland area of Southern and southwestern China have spicy eating habits, and the area is poorer than China's national average. It is also the area most early Chinese communists came from, with many poor peasants supporting the Communist revolution in the Republic of China era. Red is the color for both food and politics in the area.
There are a variety of Chinese cuisines in China's coastal big cities. But you will be mainly facing the red chili when in the provinces mentioned above. That will be cruel for a foreigner's tastebuds.
Last edited by Nosmokinginthp; 12-19-2014 at 06:59 AM..
Coastal Chinese like Shanghainese, Fujianese, Cantonese and Hainanese brought their cusines to other countries, having seafaring , trade traditions and relatively earlier contacts with foreigners. Inland Chinese could not travel easily out of China until recently due to geography and poorer. Foreigners and coastal Chinese had little contacts with Inland Chinese due to geographic isolation until recent centuries, and even mistaken chili originating from inland China.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm21
Real Sichuan and Hunan food is almost unavailable in western countries so people are unaware of it. Actually the vast majority of Chinese cuisine is completely unknown in the west. I've only had maybe 1 or 2 dishes at restaurants here that I was familiar with. Almost all the Chinese food in western countries is either westernized or from the south. I used to do all my shopping at Asian aupermarkets and I've encountered a lot of vegetables and ingredients here I'd never even heard of before. Constantly surprised.
Going back to the original question, spicy foods are actually correlated with hotter/tropical enviroments. I know it sounds contradictory, but spicy foods actually have an overall cooling effect on the body. I'm mobile, but I'll post the article later when I find it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beatviolence
Asia is the birthplace of spices. Hot food was not generally eaten in western cultures and Africa.
What do you think?
In SW China and Korea, only chillis are the main ingridients for flavor. In SE and S asia, all spices are the ingridients.
But most of the spicy cuisines are popular in poorer parts of Asia, Southwestern China( Coastal and Northern China are richer and do not prefer spicy food), Southeast Asia and South Asia. Korean cuisine is spicy too(North Korea is poor while South Korea is less poor) Any correlations between wealth and hot flavor?
As a person who is not from those regions, and not well used to hot food. Do you like those cuisines or not?
Going back to the original question, spicy foods are actually correlated with hotter/tropical enviroments. I know it sounds contradictory, but spicy foods actually have an overall cooling effect on the body. I'm mobile, but I'll post the article later when I find it.
Because you get all sweaty after having spicy food.
As a person who is not from those regions, and not well used to hot food. Do you like those cuisines or not?
My favorite cuisines are Thai and Mexican and the spicier the better. I also put jalapenos or hot sauce on almost all of my food. I only discovered real Thai food in the past year. I'm from the American South.
Not only Sichuan, Chongqing and Hunan. Jiangxi, Northern Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Yunnan cuisines are also full of chili. And chili orginated in Mexico and spreaded to Asia via the coastal ports, but coastal Chinese cuisines are not spicy, only the inland area of Southern and southwestern China have spicy eating habits, and the area is poorer than China's national average. It is also the area most early Chinese communists came from, with many poor peasants supporting the Communist revolution in the Republic of China era. Red is the color for both food and politics in the area.
There are a variety of Chinese cuisines in China's coastal big cities. But you will be mainly facing the red chili when in the provinces mentioned above. That will be cruel for a foreigner's tastebuds.
Chili peppers were introduced in China in Ming Dynasty, and at that time Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei etc. were not really poor, especially compared to northern provinces.
People in Sichuan had always loved spicy food before chili was introduced to China. History books recorded "Sichuanese like strong favors with spices" (蜀人尚滋味，好辛香）
They simply found a new material to use when chili arrived.
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