People who eat hot peppers, and similar things: crazy masochists?

[brentspeak]

You eat a hot pepper. Your tongue then feels like it's stuck on a hot iron. Your face turns beet red, your head feels like it's going to explode. It feels a bit like this inside your head: You look a little bit like this guy: Your eyes tear up a small river, your nose might even run. So you down about three gallons of water until the pain dissipates enough so you can stop punching the wall and banging your head: After all is said and done, you're exhausted, scatter-brained, and feel kind of like this guy:

And then, logically, you put another hot pepper in your mouth.

What is this all about????!!!!

[seemunkee]

1. endorphin rush

better than meth

[Xithras]

2. Not everyone feels it the same way.

I like spicy food, but not food so hot it sends me running to the bathroom. The thing is, the food that I consider to be merely "spicy" sends my WIFE running to the bathroom! The food she considers spicy, I consider bland and tasteless.

We all perceive tastes, smells, and sounds slightly differently. I can pop jalapeno's all day without any of the reactions you describe...it takes something incredibly hot to get me to react that way (Daves Insanity Sauce did it once).

[brentspeak]

4. I've wondered if things that taste sour for some people, taste sweet for others

and vice-versa.

[Xithras]

Not normally.

There are some disorders that can cause that, but normally we all taste with the same parts of our tongue and perceive tastes the same way. The difference is primarily in how STRONGLY you percieve taste. I'm pretty immune to hot foods, for example, but my wifes iced tea is so sweet it's sickening...I've always been sensitive to sugar and require very little to sweeten food. Lemons also don't taste all that bitter to me...they ARE bitter, but it's really mild. I just have different sensitivities to different types of foods.

[Jamastiene]

40. I think sensitivity is the key too.

Our tongues are set up to sense the different categories of flavors based on the part of the tongue doing the sensing. I love the taste of spicy hot foods, but my stomach is incredibly sensitive. I have to balance my spicy food intake because of my temperamental stomach. Sometimes, I have to force myself to eat chicken and rice soup without tobasco sauce in it and milk and crackers in it for about two weeks, I have to alternated between those two to get it back right again. If only my stomach was balanced with my tongue, eyes, nose and sinuses...

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

29. Damn I love that shit! DIS made me almost pass out when I had it straight on an empty stomach

I just poured it on a teaspoon, ate it, and literally saw spots and fell to the floor.

[GOPisEvil]

3. In addition to the endorphin rush, they make you sweat, which cools you off.

Is it any wonder that the countries known for spicy food are closer to the equator in general?

[Xithras]

6. Actually that's not why...

Globally, the use of spices in traditional foods directly correlates to how long the food keeps. In cold climates, meat generally keeps for days before going bad, allowing people to consume it while it's still fresh. In hotter climates, meat can go bad in as little as a few hours. Because food cannot be wasted and people often couldn't consume the food before it started to sour, the practice of spicing the food started. The poorer you are, the more likely you were to keep food longer, and the more likely you were to spice it as a result.

A lot of people don't get this nowadays, but rancid meat actually isn't all that unhealthy for you (and it's far healthier than starvation). Rancid meat DOES taste like crap, so the more likely a society (or even a class within a society) was to eat rancid meat, the more likely they were to spice it heavily.

[GOPisEvil]

7. Hmm...maybe a combination of the two reasons!

Because I really like my reason, but yours makes sense, too.

[cwydro]

5. They're supposed to be good for you

Oddly, I think I read that they are good for stomach ailments...

[annabanana]

19. capsaicin is the hot stuff in peppers....

They measure them on a scofield scale. . .
They are blood thinners, they can aid in digestion, the heat can be good for aches and pains. .

They will also clear out your sinuses!


yum

[Elidor]

8. I enjoy that sensation

And I love the way capsaicin makes my head sweat for a few minutes. It's peculiar, but feels very cleansing. And peppers are such yummy goodness.

Even better, a thick glob of wasabi on sushi, so much that it literally makes you cry. It's like an orgasm for your sinuses. I can't believe I just said that.

[Sequoia]

10. Good for stuffy sinuses and colds I guess.

[Sequoia]

9. You should watch that "Simpsons" episode where he goes to

a chili cookoff and eats one two many and starts tripping. Johnny Cash stars. One of my favorite (next to The Left-Handed Store, and the Poppa Bush with Bart and the boat motor!)

[deucemagnet]

13. Those would be Chief Wiggum's Guatemalan Insanity Peppers.

[Sequoia]

11. Take the Hot Sauce Challenge quiz

http://www.nbc4.tv/bored-room/index.html

Scroll down to Quizzes box, it's the last one.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Ten out of ten correct, and I only guessed on one.

I had to guess on the Dave's Insanity question.
I am a capsaicin addict.

[NamVetsWeeLass]

12. Maybe it is a pain thing... but then....

Maybe it just tastes good?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Me no comprende either. n/t

[BikeWriter]

15. Peppers are good!

[Redstone]

16. Mrs R is utterly addicted. She grew up with the stuff, like most people in

tropical climates. I do enjoy the smell of her curry when she cooks it, but I'd spontaneously combust if I tried to eat any of it.

Redstone

[dysfunctional press]

17. i don't see the point of making food painful...?

at least not since the dawn of refrigeration.

spices used to be big business, because they were used to cover the taste of rotting meat. not so much anymore.

masochism is the only logical explanation as to why somebody would want to derive pain from their sustenance

[Fla Dem]

27. Not painful for me, A stimulating eating experience. n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

18. highly intelligent if you ask me. I am a chili head, we eat fire at

our house.

Best thing ever for a chest cold: chicken soup with lots of fresh ginger, and a couple of jalapeno peppers.

[Reverend_Smitty]

20. I ate hot sauce that instantly sobered me up once...

I was out drinking all day and when we stopped at a restaurant for much needed sustenance, someone dared me to try the hottest sauce the restaurant carried (they had about 12 in all). Of course being drunk and never one to back down from a challenge, I tried a dab of it on a french fry...and then all hell broke loose. After 10 minutes of drinking water, eating bread and even eating sugar packets (which surprisingly helped), I no longer felt drunk. I felt like crap, and my mouth burned all night, but I was definitely sober from that point on...go figure

I do enjoy spicy foods generally, but that was a bit too much even for me

[Jamastiene]

41. Eating takes away the buzz from drinking alcohol.

When the first girl I ever fell for would plan a drinking party, we'd coordinate what we were gonna do.

To get drunker faster and harder:
Eat very little all day and make sure the small amound of food we ate was something sweet. (Good for saving money on alcohol)

To drink more before getting drunk:
Eat potatoes or anything else starchy and full of carbs. (Good for drinking games)

To lessen a buzz after drinking:
Just eat a nice hearty balanced meal. (Good for appearing not as fitshaced to family and friends who nagged about the drinking)

Hangover:
Hair of the dog. (Good for taking the edge off a hangover)

[Gormy Cuss]

21. I have one thing to say to you.

Bite these.

[Lex]

22. It's supposed to be really good for your heart and blood pressure.

Cayenne is supposed to be anyway.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. Clear sinuses for 15 minutes.

[brentspeak]

25. Has anyone here tried hot peppers for sinus headaches?

Reading these posts about how hot peppers clear sinuses, I wonder if they could also help alleviate sinus headaches (which I suffer a lot from).

[Jamastiene]

42. I have tried it. Also for flu or colds, it works as well.

Add some Tobasco sauce or other hot sauce or a couple of peppers to chicken soup for sinus headaches, colds, and flu for relief. It does work.

[XemaSab]

26. It's good times

It feels really cathartic, especially for someone with chronic allergies. It's like that moment in the week when your sink is sparking, the only marks on the floor are from the vacuum, and your house is CLEAN goddamnit!

(Or at least it woukd be like that if I ever got the house that clean. )

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

28. I absolutly LOVE hot foods. Habeneros are my best freinds.

[brentspeak]

34. Holy habeneros! Those things are the hottest peppers in the universe.

According to this website, habeneros are at the top of the "hot" list:

http://users.visi.net/~mandy/pepguide.html

(Where's that clip of Homer with his tongue on fire?)

[Rosco T.]

30. Puts hair on your chest..... and the burns it off your....

.. ahem..

[QMPMom]

31. Our family loves hot peppers. We buy them by the gallon jar

at the Italian market. Yum!

[TimeChaser]

32. As a lover of painfully spicy things

I would say yes, it's a little bit of masochism

[Nickster]

33. I can't even begin to explain how many hot peppers we go through in this household every month.

I've tried to find a restaurant supply house so I could get regular case shipments to my house.

[ejbrush]

35. Hot peppers are for wimps...

they're just spicy, you know. Maybe a little painful, sure, but relativly benign. Now a really good horseradish, heh, that's the good stuff. The bar down the block used to sell stuff called "Royal Bohemian XXX Hot Horseradish", and it was the most unforgettable feeling in creation. You'd take a small dab on a fry and the almost electrical charge would race across your scalp and inside your sinuses. No pain in the mouth, really, but it feels like thousands of little ants were trying to gnaw through your skin from the inside out. Honestly, you didn't even have to eat it, just unscrew the jar and take a deep whiff. I once watched a poor bastard do such a thing and become unstooled.

[SPKrazy]

36. Love To Torture My Tongue!

maybe there's a better way? Any ideas out there?

[MnFats]

37. i like food with a kick.....

i'm not crazy. i don't eat habaeros.
but a couple of nice cajun peppers, or thai, on a burger are great.

[Lost4words]

38. We love our chilis here in New Mexico!

[Jamastiene]

39. I don't do all that you describe when I eat hot peppers.

I eat the pepper, swallow, take another bite, swallow that, then take a sip or two of my trusty ol' Dr Pepper.

I enjoy the feeling hot peppers give me. For one, my sinuses have always been notoriously stopped up. I have constant trouble with nausea from thick stuff in the back of my throat from my sinuses. Eating peppers helps me breathe better. My eyes burn and sting and itch all the time normally. When I eat hot peppers, my dry eyes begin to feel like normal must feel. I enjoy that relief. I like flavor as well, so my old tired senseless tongue gets a little action. I think it enjoys it too.

One caveat for me though is that my stomach doesn't react well to anything spicy. I take a Pepcid for it. So, until the hot pepper starts my stomach ulcers back, I'll eat them for the relief followed by a pepper.

Once I great my own cayenne peppers in the garden. I watched until they turned red on the vine. I wanted them to ripen on the vine for maximum flavor. I picked them and then noticed that the bird bath needed water added. I placed the peppers on the deck and commenced watering the bird bath. A gnat flew into my eye. I reached up and rubbed it really really good with my hands to make the tickling go away. It did. It was replaced by this feeling of blindness mixed with hot pokers to the eyes. I can honestly say I did not know before that, that I could open my eyes under cold running water. So, eating hot peppers is good. Rubbing your hands in your eyes after touching them is not good. I learned a valuable lesson from that. Munch some cayenne to take away the burning in the eyes. That was the only thing that stopped the burning when I touched my eyes. Now, when I chop onions, I munch a piece to take away the tears. It works too.

[brentspeak]

43. Speaking of pepper juice getting in one's eyes

My older brother once splashed tobasco sauce in my eyes when we were kids -- he caught me reading his comic books. Needless to say, I spent much of the day rinsing my eyes with cold water, and he was sent to his room for the duration.