Why do people like peppery food?

[Pan]

On a page from Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary, I found the following remarks on the ingestion of peppery food (which he uses the word "pungent" to describe):

It is not alltogether clear why humans like pungent food at all. There are numerous different explanations: Hot spices, so we read, have been used to mask the flavour of not-really-fresh ingredients; the high price of pepper made it into a symbol of whealth; culinary use of pepper came forth from previous medical use. I deem it more probable that there are sound biochemical reasons: The body interprets hot flavour as pain and reacts by secreting pain-killers, so-called endorphines, which have analgetic functions but also show stimulating and euphorizing power.

I know we've had some discussions about this before, but I doubt we've exhausted the topic.

For what it's worth, I happen to frequently enjoy peppery food often, which is no doubt in major part a product of my experience with hot pepper in Malaysia when I was 10-12. But beyond that, I'm not sure it would be easier for me to explain why I enjoy peppery food than why I enjoy sweet or sour food, for example.

Edited January 31, 2004 by Pan (log)

[Cusina]

Well, it was 10 below here today, anything hot was welcome. I like pepper best when mixed with creamy ingredients. Contrast perhaps?

[Pan]

Well, it was 10 below here today, anything hot was welcome.

Interesting you should say that, Cusina. I also enjoy hot food in the winter because it counteracts repiratory congestion. But in the summertime, hot food makes you sweat and cools you off, which is why I think it's generally true (with some really notable exceptions like Korea) that the hotter the climate is, the hotter the food is.

Edited January 31, 2004 by Pan (log)

[jhlurie]

"Peppery" may indeed be the wrong word, although I'm sure than "pungent" is any better. Of course "spicy" and "hot" are damaged terms too, since each has other meanings.

Someone needs to invent a term. "Capsicum" and "capsicun", though relevent to the process, do very little to describe the mouth, tongue, throat or nose feel (which aren't consistent between the oily and non-oily varieties of spicy/hot/peppery/pungent food anyway).

[Pan]

Jon, what do you mean by the oily and non-oily varieties? You mean when you're having hot oil it's different from chewing on a dried chili? Is the difference between chili alone and chili + oil anything more than simply the chili feel plus the oil feel?

The thing about "peppery" is it also encompasses black pepper varieties, which have a comparable feel in the mouth (chewing on peppercorns, etc.), but powdered black or white pepper can do things to the nose that I think powdered cayenne pepper doesn't do.

[Mabelline]

When the Conquistadores were in Mexico in the 1500's , one of their padres wrote about the effect the chiles had on the "indios": "They will eat this at their leisure so that their mouths' froth, and then continue the rest of the day in their abysmal duties," keeping in mind that this forced labor had on the average, according to documents of that era, a lifespan of six months once engaged as "labor". So I suggest it was ancestrally a "pick-me-up" if you will, but was always a way to prevent ailnesses or make having them more bearable. And, They just taste good! Think about someone with a bland diet- for the cheap price of raising chiles, they knocked the spice monopoly of pepper on it's butt. In the 1100's in Narbonne, a warhorse could be had for the equivilent of a 3# bag of black peppercorns. The difficulty lay in getting them there.

[Katherine]

I was just reading this after finishing a plate of eggs beaten with cream and scrambled with chopped roasted habaneros. My mouth sings!

[Mabelline]

Well then, let's go to the mines, girlfriend! Believe me, I had HOT chiles smuggled in to me, and nobody minded, as a customary practical deal, they kept track of me 'behind' my native meds! I have found a couple of new peppers, also!

[FistFullaRoux]

A lot has been said about the capsicum triggering an endorphin rush, similar to a "runner's high". Endorphins are a very effective painkiller and vasodiolator (It opens the blood vessels so blood can circulate more freely).

I think there's something to that. Little known fact, birds are unaffected by hot pepper. Squirrels are. If you want to keep sqirrels out of the bird feeder, add some cayenne into the mix.

I don't know if mammals only are affected by pepper, but birds seem not to be. That is what makes me thing there is a physiological response at work. Especially since really hot peppers can cause a blistering reaction withthe skin, the bodies reaction to the potentially harmful substance is to try to numb it.

So in short, I agree with the first post. it's a cheap and quick high, I think. Short lived, but better than certain other substances.

Edited January 31, 2004 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[gus_tatory]

agreeing with everything above, especially the hot food to warm one's system during cold times (it's been like -35 celsius here for 2-3 weeks).

but beyond that, cracked black pepper has a *divine* smell. it is in fact included in a lot of mens' colognes.

[Oreganought]

For the same reason I like dry wine,sweet balsamic and sour cherries.

[QuinaQuen]

Then again, cracked black pepper simply doesn't do the same thing as capsica. It is yum, but it is a whole 'nother chemical, a whole 'nother hormone, a whole 'nother experience. The same goes for ginger and wasabi.

Endorphins are a big plus, but they are not the big draw. Stay with me here:

Capsaicin has the ability not to enhance, not to augment, but warp the flavor of any surrounding ingredients. This ability actually brings it closer to LSD or psilocybin than to the cocaine-like experience that endorphin junkies tend to describe. The rush is real, the rush is good, but the rush is not the ultimate appeal of chiles. The true, the pure, the ultimate appeal of peppers is their ability to transform their surrounding flavors into entities of an entirely different dimension; think Dolby vs. mono.

Train yourself if you have to. Endure endless gustatory and colonic pain. But this is that other level. When the heat doesn't matter any more, a whole new universe of flavor opens to you.

[jhlurie]

I'm not sure if "warp" is the right word, but I get your point. To me, cilantro covered in hot chili oil still tastes like cilantro. What's different, perhaps, is that because I'm at least somewhat adapted to capsicum, I'm a bit more aware of strong flavors underneath--they kind of stand out. People who aren't adapted seem to think that capsicum masks flavors, and the more adapted you become the less it masks and the more it... highlights. It's the exact opposite of the popular belief that it "kills your tastebuds".

The same is true, in a way, of sichuan peppercorn (for those who don't know... it's no relation to black pepper). As with capsicum, there's some apparent "masking" at first, although adjusting to it seems to be more of a psychological thing than a chemical one. The best examples of sichuan peppercorn do the whole numbing thing, and then as the numbing wears off, the other flavors seem to flow back in like a tide. It's an interesting experience, and not very explainable---maybe even less so to people who have had BAD sichuan peppercorn, which is all too common these days for those who try and find it (it's been banned by the FDA for the past few years due to a viurs it carries which effects citrus plants).

[rgruby]

Sybil Kapoor in her book Taste says foods containing capsaicin have the effect of heightening the sense of taste, flavor and texture. This sounds like a similar effect to the addition of salt, rather than a "warping" of flavours.

But as I was just reading it, I thought I'd throw it out there.

And, as others have noted, spicy, and/or peppery foods often happen to taste really yummy.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[snowangel]

The Thai language has two different words for hot -- one for spicy hot, the other for temperature hot. It's a good system.

My moments of pride with my children have nothing to do with being able to play complicated pieces on the piano, nor reading books far above the average for their age level, but the ability to enjoy and interpret spicy hot flavors!

[Pickles]

I love pepper on my fruit. Fresh peaches and bananas in a bowl with sour cream and lots of freshly ground pepper on top. The sweet and the peppery marry well in my mouth.

[cakes]

Well, it was 10 below here today, anything hot was welcome.

Interesting you should say that, Cusina. I also enjoy hot food in the winter because it counteracts repiratory congestion. But in the summertime, hot food makes you sweat and cools you off, which is why I think it's generally true (with some really notable exceptions like Korea) that the hotter the climate is, the hotter the food is.

Pan,

I think the idea that eating hot food makes you sweat and cools one off in the summer is an old wives tale.

I think the reason spicy or peppery food is polular in hot climates is to cover up meat that is going or has gone bad.

Cakes

[Pan]

I've personally experienced sweating from very hot-peppery food. I really think this is well-established as a scientific fact:

SUMMARY

With the help of calcium imaging, researchers have identified the protein receptor on mammalian cells that binds the "hot" molecule from red-hot chili peppers.

First Your eyes well up and water, then your nose runs. Your mouth is on fire and you break into a sweat. Is this the aftermath of exposure to a toxic gas, or perhaps the start of an acute ill-ness? Possibly. But it is also the reaction to biting into a red-hot chili pepper.

The common description of a burning sensation upon eating a chili is indeed accurate at the cellular level. The neuron receiving a molecular messenger from such an offending vegetable responds exactly as it would to a sudden rise in temperature. Researchers from the departments of cellular and molecular phar-macology, anesthesia and medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, have teamed sophisticated genetic tech-niques with microscopic fluorescent calcium imaging to identify the protein re-ceptor for capsaicin, the red-hot chili pepper's conveyor of its inherent hotness. Capsaicin binding stimulates certain spinal cord cells that signal the brain to perceive heat.

Why red-hot peppers are red-hot by Dr. Ricki Lewis Medical/Biotechnology Editor

When we eat peppers, there is a normal reaction called, "gustatory sweating." Typically, the sweating is restricted to the head. The classic account of this phenomenon is given in a paper by T.S. Lee (1954). Lee asked 25 subjects to chew a chili for 5 minutes and 24 of them experienced sweating on various regions of the face and scalp. He went on to note, "In every subject, including the subject who did not sweat, there was an immediate flushing of the face and reddening of the conjunctivae on chewing chillies. The flushing usually extended to the chest and shoulders..." Lee concluded that the burn of the chilies and not their taste was responsible for the gustatory sweating. However, taste can play a role in a pathological version of the phenomenon. For example, when the nerves that go to the salivary glands are damaged, they sometimes regrow into the sweat glands. When this happens, substances that normally would cause salivation cause sweating (Frey's syndrome). Reference:

    Lee, T.S. (1954) Physiological gustatory sweating in a warm climate. Journal of Physiology, 124:528-542.

Linda Bartoshuk Q&A

This is a very interesting Q&A by scientist Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D., whose biography you can read here.

And I don't think you can point to chili in particular as being used to mask the taste of old unrefrigerated meat and fish (not that you were doing that, but please bear with me). What about salt? What about a multitude of spices that aren't particularly "hot" (cumin, cinammon, cloves, etc.)? (That is, I don't think hot chili bite can be easily conflated with spicing in general.) On the other hand, what about the popularity of sauces that are specifically made from rotten fish and shrimp, such as nam pla and belacan?

[JAZ]

I think the idea that eating hot food makes you sweat and cools one off in the summer is an old wives tale.

I think the reason spicy or peppery food is polular in hot climates is to cover up meat that is going or has gone bad.

Cakes

Actually, one theory holds that a taste for spices (all kinds, not just the "hot" ones) arose because of their ability to kill pathogens in food. Because, when you think about it, using spices cover the taste of toxic food is not a viable evolutionary strategy.

[froufrou]

When, it's what you have been eating all your life as that's the way with food in South La., every thing else is bland.

In Canada and France the two places that I've lived in the past 4 years...I feel the need to crack pepper all over my food.

As the French make their food to perfection and one needs never to use salt or pepper, it's to perfection to them, not one who is used to hot spicy food.

On the other hand, the less I eat it the more back home becomes a problem for me regarding the spice.

Cheers!

Renee

[Pan]

When, it's what you have been eating all your life as that's the way with food in South La., every thing else is bland.

You could just as easily substitute "Malaysia" for "South La." and make the same statement, and millions of Malaysians would agree with you.

[helenjp]

This thing about spices and hot condiments being used to mask rotting food...I really, really doubt this. I suspect that we are more careless about food freshness than any preceding generation.

Even in my lifetime, I can look back and think of foods that were considered unsafe to eat after 24 hours, that now are considered practically indestructible...milk, for example.

Regards

Helen H

[chow guy]

My love of peppery food turned to an addiction after moving to New Mexico. Chile is the state vegetable and once I discovered the rich earthy flavor of local chiles I had a new appreciation of the flavor under the heat. I eat chile in the usual New Mexican specialties but also on eggs, in mac and cheese, soups, pastas, breads and even in Hatch green chile pecan pie or Chiymayo red walnut pie. It's all about the flavor and of course there's the endophin rush. In winter there is a comfort food warmth and in summer the cooling effect happens. When the breeze hits the capsacin caused moisture on my scalp and face it really does act like an evaporative cooler. When it comes to pepper I choose Tellicherry peppercorns over generic because of the delicious flavor. Luckily I get to judge a fiery food competition every year and discover new and often very creative products that use chiles. I even get lots of free products which helps to enable my addiction.

[cakes]

Pan,

Eating hot food makes me sweat also but so does hot weather or exertion. If one's body deems it necessary, you sweat. Chiles don't cool you.

As for the masking of smelly meat.....people that grew up eating vegatables that were fertilized with human excrement have no problems. You or I would get seriously sick. Just because we can't eat it does not make it "bad" for everyone.

In Norway all you have to do to keep your meat or fish is to throw it out the door. Norwegians aren't know for spicy foods.

Even in my lifetime, I can look back and think of foods that were considered unsafe to eat after 24 hours, that now are considered practically indestructible...milk, for example.

Ever heard of Pasturization?

Cakes

[Pan]

Pan,

Eating hot food makes me sweat also but so does hot weather or exertion. If one's body deems it necessary, you sweat. Chiles don't cool you.

That doesn't make sense to me. In the noonday sun of a Malaysian drought season, you are not going to exert yourself, and if the hot pepper makes you sweat more without tiring yourself out, how does it manage not to cool you?