Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here's a thought to ponder: Why isn't most breakfast food spicy?
In today's times, spicy food has become a regular staple of the American diet. Probably other Western countries' diet too. From the blatantly American buffalo wings and burgers, to the foods like authentic tacos, kimchi, and samosas. But all these spicy foods continue to be confined to lunch, dinner, and fourthmeal. Breakfast continues to be quite bland in comparison: pancakes with syrup, cereal, eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. Sometimes people put Frank's hot sauce on their eggs, but that's generally not seen as the norm, more like a bravado sort of thing.
The same is true with breakfast in many other counties: the Japanese eat miso soup, the Israelis eat shakshouka (eggs poached in tomato sauce), the French eat croissants, and the Swedes eat herring with bread. None of these breakfast foods are spicy, even if the respective nationalities embraced spicy foods for other meals. Any spice level that's there, like in shakshouka, is much milder compared to lunch, dinner, etc.
Why do so many people prefer rather bland foods for breakfast, even if they enjoy spicy foods at other meals? What makes their morning meal so different? Is it a psychological thing of some sort?
So you don't get heartburn and wind for the rest of the day of course
For me, it's psychological. I always thought breakfast foods should be lighter on your stomach (no meat, no spicyness) because your body just woke up and needs a slow start. I obviously have NO medicine or science basis for this though.
Here's a thought to ponder: Why isn't most breakfast food spicy?
In today's times, spicy food has become a regular staple of the American diet. Probably other Western countries' diet too. From the blatantly American buffalo wings and burgers, to the foods like authentic tacos, kimchi, and samosas. But all these spicy foods continue to be confined to lunch, dinner, and fourthmeal. Breakfast continues to be quite bland in comparison: pancakes with syrup, cereal, eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. Sometimes people put Frank's hot sauce on their eggs, but that's generally not seen as the norm, more like a bravado sort of thing.
The same is true with breakfast in many other counties: the Japanese eat miso soup, the Israelis eat shakshouka (eggs poached in tomato sauce), the French eat croissants, and the Swedes eat herring with bread. None of these breakfast foods are spicy, even if the respective nationalities embraced spicy foods for other meals. Any spice level that's there, like in shakshouka, is much milder compared to lunch, dinner, etc.
Why do so many people prefer rather bland foods for breakfast, even if they enjoy spicy foods at other meals? What makes their morning meal so different? Is it a psychological thing of some sort?
I like spicy breakfast sausage. Even charizo and eggs.
I'll give you that. But I was referring more to the level of spice that makes you pant like a dog to cool off . Spicy breakfast foods are nowhere near that level for the most part.
As for my own hot sauce preferences, I like Cholula at breakfast, and Frank's at lunch and dinner.
If I am going to pant like a dog to cool off it will *not* be from spicy food.....
Many people do not like spicy food which is their choice so you stay in your kitchen and out of mine.
Well, I looked it up. Not breakfast in particular, but to make a long story short:
Hot spicy foods are popular in hot climates because food there spoils faster.
The spices that they use tend to retard the spoilage.
It's not natural for people to like hot, spicy foods but in those hot climates, it was better for people to get used to eating them. The heat in the food is not a "taste". It is painful.
To deal with the pain, you have to get accustomed to it. In hot climates, parents used to (maybe still do) feed their kids sugar with the hot peppery spices in it to get them used to it. Otherwise all they would feel is the pain.
The more you eat hot, spicy food, the more your nerve endings die off. As your nerve endings die off, the pain is less strong.
So you get used to the "hot" foods by gradually eating more and more of them, thus killing off your nerve endings so you can't feel the pain.
I'm one of the people who won't/can't eat hot foods at all, no matter when. Never even tried to get used to the pain. No need to because I live in a cold climate where I could put the food outside to retard spoilage--and anyway, we now have refrigerators!
If you paid me a lot I would suffer through something hot in an evening meal, but in the morning I simply am not awake enough or feeling strong enough to endure the suffering. The End.
Yeah, that's kind of what I meant. I just should have worded it more explicitly. Countries whose cuisines aren't traditionally spicy, including USA, have embraced spicy foods for lunch and dinner, but not for breakfast. Why so, I wonder?
Because it's too much for the bland pallette to eat anything spicy in the morning. I would also use the term 'embrace spicy food' cautiously for those countries you mentioned. They try it every once in a while for variety's sake, but I wouldn't call that embracing.
A favorite here at work and always available on Thursday in the cafeteria is Chilaquiles. I love them with red sauce although if they could make them with a green sauce they would more than likely be a bit hotter.
Something that my wife loves when I make is fired ham with onions, green peppers, Serrano chili's, cooked in a small amount of butter until the onions are cooked and the ham is browned a bit.
What I do is make some eggs in another pan, heat up corn tortillas in a little butter, place the eggs on the tortillas, put the ham, onions, green peppers,, serrano chili's over the eggs, grate some cheese over that and eat it like a taco. I have also used large flower tortillas to make burritos out of it. The kids love it as do my wife and me.
Just about everywhere you go from a food truck to many restaurants everyone has a version of a breakfast burrito with salsa or Pico of some kind. Even at the many Carls Jr. / Green Burrito places you can get a breakfast burrito. I think even Taco Bell has them now.
Well, I looked it up. Not breakfast in particular, but to make a long story short:
Hot spicy foods are popular in hot climates because food there spoils faster.
The spices that they use tend to retard the spoilage.
It's not natural for people to like hot, spicy foods but in those hot climates, it was better for people to get used to eating them. The heat in the food is not a "taste". It is painful.
To deal with the pain, you have to get accustomed to it. In hot climates, parents used to (maybe still do) feed their kids sugar with the hot peppery spices in it to get them used to it. Otherwise all they would feel is the pain.
The more you eat hot, spicy food, the more your nerve endings die off. As your nerve endings die off, the pain is less strong.
So you get used to the "hot" foods by gradually eating more and more of them, thus killing off your nerve endings so you can't feel the pain.
I'm one of the people who won't/can't eat hot foods at all, no matter when. Never even tried to get used to the pain. No need to because I live in a cold climate where I could put the food outside to retard spoilage--and anyway, we now have refrigerators!
If you paid me a lot I would suffer through something hot in an evening meal, but in the morning I simply am not awake enough or feeling strong enough to endure the suffering. The End.
I agree. I grew up in Asia and my tolerance for spicy food was leaps and bounds higher then, although my parents never 'trained' us to like spicy food. When everything around you was spicy, you'd pick up on it soon enough. Now that I've lived in the US for almost 20 years, I lost nearly all my taste for spicy food.
Speaking of spicy breakfast, I remember when we went to Bali for our family reunion years ago. For breakfast we went to this restaurant that served this supposedly famous fish soup. I thought, ok fish soup with clear broth with rice on the side, can't be that bad. Oh Good God!!! It was 10 fire alarms spicy that I could only took one slurp of the broth and bolted out of there with tounge hanging out in misery. My brother ate all my portion gladly and he still laughs when we reminisce about it.
I'll give you that. But I was referring more to the level of spice that makes you pant like a dog to cool off . Spicy breakfast foods are nowhere near that level for the most part.
As for my own hot sauce preferences, I like Cholula at breakfast, and Frank's at lunch and dinner.
By no measure is that level of hot the norm in America.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
