Don't let him see you cry.

I went to a Korean hot pot place one time and ordered the hottest broth. The waitress, who barely spoke English, asked if I was sure. I said yes and when they brought it out I was sweating buckets but still loved the food. The waitress actually brought out a fan and stuck it next to my table. 10 out of 10, Would sweat again
- Hottest shit I've ever eaten was Thai Food.
  I've done the One Chip Challenge, regularly dump Carolina Reaper Sauce on my food, have eaten Ghost Pepper raw twice.
  But none of it compares to the regular spicy noodles and beef dish I have eaten from the local Thai place. Southeastern Asians are just a different breed when it comes to Spices.
  
  Thai papaya salad was what got me into hot food. I was at a Thai restaurant with Thai friends, and they told me to try it. It looked like coleslaw to me, so I grabbed a bunch and started eating it. First couple bites were fine, but then the heat came. And the salad was the only thing that provided any temporary relief. I had so much of it. I loved it. I've tried it other places, never been as good because they will use jalapeno instead of the tiny Thai chilis.
  
  Spices and taste, all of it taste increadible!

One time I went to an Indian restaurant with my boss (from south India) and a Mexican coworker. I ordered my food mild, my boss ordered his medium, and the Mexican guy ordered his hot. My boss tried to warn him but he insisted that he could handle spicy food.
The food came out, the Mexican guy had no problem eating his, and he started gloating. Then my boss told him that he was actually eating my boss's medium food. After they switched plates, the Mexican guy turned red, started sweating, and had to ask my boss to switch back.
(My boss had no problem eating the hot food; he just preferred the taste of medium.)
- My brother is half white half Mexican and I am pretty much full white.
  He decided to order his as hot as mine even though we all warned him not to.
  His food tasted pretty good at about 3:30 the next morning
  
  This makes it sound like you ate his shit...
- Yeah too much spice kills the flavour. You should be using spices to enhance the flavour, not smother it.
  
  Yeah that’s true. If I wanted to drown in only tasting the spice, I’d eat a few peppers or something. Spice is good, but so is flavour.
- I took a mate out to an Indian place I regularly eat at and we had a few pints before. When I ordered the "devil potatoes" they warned me as they always do about the spice, I drunkenly bantered with the waiter that I've had them before and can hack it, then jokingly added "in fact make them extra spicy". Anyway, they did cook them extra hot, probably thinking he could embarrass the cocky British bloke. I wolfed them down no problem, my mate had one and I just watched his face go red and start coughing. Felt so bad.

I don't understand how people do this, to be honest. Do you know how spicy food works? The receptor it triggers in your mouth is TRPV1, which does handle heat regulation and sensitivity, but it's also a pain receptor. Like, selectively removing it to treat the pain caused by bone cancer kind of receptor.
The kind of heat that sets it off is heat above 109F/43C, in addition to things like scorpion venom. Presumably it comes through as heat. Everyone tells me it feels hot. I don't get "heat." I get what is clearly agony in one of the most innervated areas of the body, and science backed me up on this.
Y'all are addicted to licking the curling iron and I'm the weird one
- You're probably just sensitive to capsaicin. I love hot food, and it takes a lot for me to end up in agony like you described. But I've definitely been that guy at an Indian place where I'm sweating profusely while telling the staff the food is delicious.
  Finding a hot sauce that tastes good/doesn't taste like hot garbage is harder than actually eating food seasoned with it.
  
  I'm a chili head and I fucking hate hot sauce that's just pain without flavor. I've also been the guy in a Thai restaurant that regretted "hottest" on their menu.
- The pain is kind of the point. More specifically the body's response to pain is the point. Eating spicy food, especially mild foods when starting, is a low level pain but it triggers the body's pain response. You get those nice dopamine and endorphins released. You end up associating the two and your journey to liking spicy food has begun.
- It's why many women enjoy being spanked. Pain and pleasure have a really intricate, interconnected system.
  
  I'm genuinely sitting here wondering if I can flip my brain to see it that way, and that might even work in theory. But if this is my best way out...I don't wanna be turned on by hot sauce 😭
  
  Mm-hmm, and why do I like spanking them?
- It might be because I am also a bit of a masochist, but spicy food just taste better
  Also you can build a tolerance for spicy food, I am in the unfortunate position that my mouth is much more tolerant than my ass (that I do not have the gene to digest capsaicin is a curse I levy upon my ancestors)
  
  That's the weird thing that got me just a couple minutes after posting this, and I just sat there for a while, staring into the middle distance.
  I am a sadomasochist that needs my salsa to be mostly yogurt.
  You can build a tolerance, I know. You're literally burning your pain receptors out temporarily. But the kind of determination I appear to need to get there. How am I the world's worst bitch
  
  mouth is much more tolerant than my ass
  Protein powder (I use the Orgain pea protein stuff) + banana + ice + milk/milk alternative all in blender. I don't question the dark magic of this concoction, I just appreciate it after going a little overboard with the scoville units.
- My mom, a wonderful lady in every other sense, was a terrible cook. The blandest of the bland. Unseasoned potatoes and overcooked meat was the norm. Even when she branched out to other things like stir fry and pizza, she still somehow managed to make them utterly flavorless.
  I distinctly recall one day at school, somehow I ended up with a little too much pepper in my tomato soup. It was like my taste buds had finally come of age or something. I started regularly adding too much pepper to my tomato soup. Then Tobasco. Then, as a young adult I found a specialty hot sauce place in the mall. It was the second coming!
  Now, I live in Korea, and wow they're not afraid to spice it up here. I do get tired of the constant "Oh, the waygook (foreigner) can handle spicy food!" refrain though.
- It gets easier the more spicy food you eat. I think your brain just starts muting the pain response because it clearly isn't stopping the painful thing from happening.
  Also, spiciness is an easy way to get some flavor into an otherwise bland dish. Handy if you're on a diet.
  And it hurts in kinda a good way? Kinda, like wiggling a loose tooth when you're a kid...
- Why do people participate in Iron Man Triathlons or BDSM? We all got to get our hurt on somehow, remind us that we're alive!
- The heart wants what it wants
- I'm with you on this
- I totally agree with you. My in-laws are always talking about how spicy they like their Indian takeaway food, and how they have to change their usual order when I'm dining with them. I'm just here thinking, "I don't like it when the food hurts my mouth when I'm eating it." Its as simple as that. If I can choose two versions of the same food, where one hurts my mouth and the other doesn't, I'm going with the non-painful one, thanks.
  The one exception I make is Jalapenos. I love the taste of jalapenos. They are not very spicy on the whole scale of things, and the flavour they add to subway sandwiches and vegetarian pizzas is amazing. But that is unrelated to Indian food.
- Pain = dolphins in my brain. (=
- Hot=pain=endorphins= happiness
- Before refridgeration was developed, food rotting was a major problem in the hot, humid tropics. The solution was to poison the food with spice - it would be somewhat unpleasant to eat, but would kill pests. I suppose over the years we got used to it.
  Fun fact: English has words for four basic tastes (sweet, salt, sour and bitter). Indian languages have a fifth basic taste - chilly or spicy.
- Some people go overboard with peppers that are all heat and no flavour; Those add nothing to the dish. Proper Thai or Indian with a mix of spice brings out the flavours, so its hot but also delicious. And it hits the mouth different. Like those hot pepper challenges arent food, they just burn all over lips mouth and throat, that should never a dining experience

I used to frequent a Szechuan noodle place. Those fucking noodles would melt my face off and give me lava shits 45 minutes later, but I couldn't stay away.
- This is how the ads should be written.
  
  Irregular? Just eat some of our noodles.

The sweating means I'm enjoying it. I don't want a curry unless it makes my nose start running.
- I'm skinny as hell I need every reason to eat and an endorphin addiction is a hell of a way to do it lol

I am fucking shameless when it comes to food sweats.
Bullets, big fat movie tears, damp sweaty towels around my shoulders.... stop to take an exhaustedand spicy breathe.... enter the second hand.... I are now double fisting chicken pathia like a chungus level American baby does spaghetti. The wait staff are disgusted, the date left hours ago... But I am happier than I will ever be.
- You really paint a vivid picture.
- My god that's a fucking funny picture and it's damn true too. I love me some fucking spicy food.

No. Let them see you cry. Let them see you hiccup and snot all over yourself. Let them see the agony.
Then take another bite. Tell them it's delicious. Because it is.

I wanna eat the real spicy food! In germany everything is watered down so n00bs can eat it🥲
- Too hot and wrong flavoured pepper for indian food
- Look for Chinese restaurants where the Chinese go eat.
  Most regions in China eat very spicy, just ask the waiter for something extra spicy like the Chinese eat it and they'll give you something amazing.
  Where do you live in Germany? Maybe I can recommend something.
  
  I recently had "very spicy" Chinese food. On scale of 1-10 it was 6 at best. ( I am Indian). If you are looking for 9 or higher look for Hyderabadi or Andhra Indian food.
  
  Thank you 🥰
  When it comes to japanese food, Düsseldorf is really great. Cause i studied there i know some good Restaurants and supermarkets 😆 but i take recomondations all around nrw.
  i really want to taste spicy indian food or try other asian food, that is not so common here 🤔
  My best friend visited south korea a few years ago. She never liked spicy food, but said it was so good there, she now likes this stuff.
  
  My life changed much for the better when I was able to find the local Chinese place that the local Chinese people eat at and the local Indian place that the local Indian people eat at. Changed everything.

Whoever says i like spicy food shall be reminded that indian food is alot spicyer than you might think🥵
- If I'm getting spicy food I always say 'white people spicy'. It always gets a good laugh and I usually get my food just right.
  
  I specifically ask for indian spicy. It's great!
  
  I ask for really hot, they look at my white skin and doubt me, then my indian friend has to vouch for me and say "No, he does actually want it hot" then they are like ah OK
- I eat everyday it's not that spicy.
  Edit - I said this in a sarcastic way. I know it's spicy.
  
  As you go from north to south, the spiciness increases
- There's an Indian place near me that does these things called devil potatoes and they're amazingly spicy. I love them.
- You can't beat a good arabiata
  Several hours ago I misread your comment as Italian, and I was very confused but played along.
  My favourite Indian curry is a jalfrezi

I used to like really spicy food and kept pestering my local place to make spicier curries until one day they finally got it hot enough to get to me. I ate the whole thing while the owner watched me laugh at my stupidity through my tears. It felt like I had a little space heater in my bowels for two whole days.

Sign me up for some authentic spicy Indian food. I am more than willing to have spice sweats for some damn good spicy food.

I once vouched for my (brother, best) friend at a South Asian restaurant. Told them in my language to give what he asked, and I would be responsible. I've never seen a human so happy. Love you my brother. Mike, may you always smile like that.
- Why wouldn't they give you what you want anyway?
  
  Because a lot of entitled assholes will later complain when they are unable to eat their food because it's too spicy.
  
  They are used to white folk with bland palate that think black pepper is too hot. I love Indian, and Thai and make the curries from scratch with high spice level. when I go out and ask for hot/Spicy they doubt me, so my Indian friend vouches for me, then they make it spicy.

Man, I'd kill for a lovely hot curry about now.

If you're not sweating profusely, it's not tasty.

As an Indian dude, I don't like food that is too spicy. It just masks all other flavour. What most restaurants would call medium spicy is what I usually prefer.
- Spice definitely enhances the flavor to me. I don't like things too hot, but I prefer spicy over mild.
  
  I agree with you. Don't get me wrong, I don't like bland food. My cooking has been called too spicy by people not used to Indian cuisine. It's just that I don't like it when hot is the only thing you can taste.
- I'm with you. I usually get spicy level 0 or 1 everywhere I go.

Whenever I eat spicy food my tongue stops working and all I can taste is bitter and pain
- Skill issue.
  Fun fact about spice tolerance. Many people think tolerance = resistance but that's not the case. After a certain point, people who love spicy foods report the same levels of spiciness compared to those who don't regularly eat it, it's just that they are used to it and even like it. So something that is a 10/10 spicy is the same level of spicy for everyone, it's just some masochists prefer it to be that way.
  So when people say things like "oh that wasn't that spicy" it still usually is spicy. Their personality just prefers it that way so it doesn't bother them as much.
  
  Every now and again I crave sweat inducing, tear rolling spice, it does hurt and it is spicy but somehow I get a buzz out of it... Kinda bizzare really.
  
  I'm fairly certain that tolerance does mute the spiciness of foods. There are foods others struggle with that I hardly notice is even spicy.
  It feels more like building a muscle than building a skill.
  
  My jerk chicken isn't hot enough unless I'm crying from both my eyes and my nose after 5 wings. Anything less and it's just mild jerk wings.

Last time at the indian restaurant I specifically stated I want the (true) spicy variant.
Food was barely eatable.
Next time I'll return it if they give me the bland version again.
- As a white guy this is the hard part of ordering Thai or Indian. I want the spicy version, not the white guy spicy version. But, if I emphasize that, then they end up giving me beyond the spicy version to mess with me. So I just order the spicy version and sometimes it's perfect while other times it's too mild and disappointing.
  
  Man that sucks. I hate when people assume that white people can’t handle spice. I’m brown, but I know some white friends that love spice.

IDK why, but some kinds of spice just sweat me the fuck up. Like, my mouth won't even feel hot, but the top of my head will be pouring.

It’s when they all emerge from the kitchen to look over at you, you know you’ve made a mistake!

I fucking love spicy food and I loved seeing people suffer with the food I would make them eat. Meanwhile I was fine watching them suffer as I ate my food. Anyway I'm lonely now and will probably never experience this sort of social interaction ever again.

I'm pretty sure they like it when you cry
- "Success Raj! they weep like the removed of Bombay! we have made it well! Big high fives*
  I mean, if it's considered good manners to let a burp out in some places, thise could also been seen as a compliment to the chef perhaps?
  
  As someone from a country that takes our spicy food seriously, at the very least there's the sense of superiority from the "foreigner" being unable to take "a little bit of spice"
  
  You on one of those censored instances?
- Zaddy

Just ate the spicy food absolute bliss😋

I love some spicey food. Fact my body doesn't seem to is it's problem! We eating spicey!

A little spice enhances flavor, a lot is just self-hazing.

Ah, the things we do to attempt to preserve our dignity when we think we're getting something only entertainingly hot, but turns out to be Chicken à la Mace...

My spice tolerance definitely increased after living in Sichuan Province for 6 months.

I love curry!

I grew up in somewhat of a food desert, coupled with an undiagnosed lactose intolerance, I avoided a lot of foods, including anything "spicy". When I grew up, went to a gastro doc, I changed my diet and now I can't not have spicy foods. I'm talking about dousing everything I eat in cayenne, habanero sauce, ghost pepper dip, everything. Why? I feel like you enjoy food for longer if you have to take a bit to get through the spice.
- It's like the pain makes you really concentrate on the food
  
  Exactly.

Not a bad thing, but makes you wonder why (historically) Caucasian cuisine is typically not spicey. Indian, Thai, Korean, (various) African, Latino food are all known to be hot as hell. Western European and American food, not so much. Did hot spices/foods just not grow in those regions?
- Peppers actually originated in the new world. They do not grow well at higher latitudes and are an excellent way of disguising the taste of slightly spoiled food, which is much more of a problem in the tropics.
- Caucasians are also the ones who eat a ton of dairy, which you'd think would be helpful for cutting down spice levels.

Man. I absolutely cannot handle spicy food. But damn is it too good. Indian is certainly one of my favourites, and frankly, if it isn't spicy, it's not right. I will continue eating it regardless, cause it is top notch.

“These are tears of joy, of ecstasy.”

And here I am, growing my own peppers and putting hot sauce on... Almost everything. Love spicy food.

I just ate at an Indian restaraunt about an hour ago and it was surprisingly manageable.
- If you're in a Western country, it's possible, they make it several magnitudes less spicy than it is traditionally. Just because they'd have no customers otherwise...
  
  "So when you say 'very spicy', do you mean for you or for me? Because I sure as hell can't handle India-spicy, but I love European-spicy."

I love milk!
- It might be lassi or spicey buttermilk
  
  Oh, I've had lassi that's spicier than the main dish.

I ate a ghost pepper once and tried to play it off as not being that hot. I spent the next 15 minutes trying not to puke.
- Did you later regret not just pulling it up

there's hot and there's White Hot

Ah, the superior version, sans horrible beard. Any how yes.

He's sweating because he's only just now noticed the cigarette butt in the hot sauce and the pronounced black lines under the fingernails of the cook. The looming diarrhea train is just around the corner and it got no brakes.

This meme stereotype is over done in modern times. Modern US cuisine is fantastic and not missing any of the spice. We'll keep up with our eastern friends all day long.
- Do you really think that the average American has the same heat tolerance as the average person from Hyderabad or Chengdu?
  Or that the average American restaurant will make food as spicy as the average restaurant in India?
- But Indian/Nepali food is fucking amazing too
- Some stereotypes have good reasons behind them, they just eat spicier stuff over there for cultural reasons...
  
  I think that's bullshit in modern days.
- I disagree severely, 9/10 times at a random restaurant they lack the heat.
- Hot sauces are the most popular sauces now in America. Yet the stereotype persists.
  
  The most popular hot sauces in America are mild ones like Tabasco, Frank's red hot, and Sriracha.
  Habanero and ghost pepper based sauces aren't very popular.

THE JOKE IS BECAUSE THE TURBAN WEARER IS INDIAN AND HE LOVES HOTTER FOOD THAN THE WHITE GUY
- You got it
- k thx. Quite obv tho