this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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It's not just Indian food. A number of mostly older Americans like to make fun of any spicy "foreign" foods that are more adventurous than the local Taco Bell. They do it because their tummies can't handle anything that's not bland to the point of being tastless. These are the same people who think salt and pepper are exotic spices. For the record I am American and I love Indian food
Who made you the expert on old people and their tummies?
I did. I decide those kinda things.
Don't ask who tasked me with this responsibility
A bunch of cranky old relatives who do things like order hibachi chicken at the best Thai restaurant in town, or insist that their steak be cooked until it is flavorless shoe leather
Its not that they arent used to flavored food. You have a built up tolerance to a mildly toxic chemical such that it doesnt cause you intestinal inflammation anymore.
I love heat as much as the next guy, but lets be clear. You dont taste with your butthole, and its a toxin that doesnt discriminate between tongue and tookus.
Capsaicin is not a toxin. It's also sensed by your pain receptors, not your taste buds.
It is literally a toxin, which is part of why it binds to your pain receptors and not your taste buds.
Which is also why it reacts with your entire digestive system, not just your mouth. Because it is a mammal targeting poison that evolved to deter unwanted predation. Its supposed to make you sick, so you dont eat the pepper and grind its seeds with your teeth.
Its just a toxin that is only deadly in insanely massive doses, that humans are lucky enough to be able to build tolerance for.
Capsaicin is not the first toxin humans ingest for fun. It will not be the last. But while lots of toxins are fun to eat, you shouldnt forget that it is very much a toxin, which is why some people cannot stomach them. Not everyone can stomach eating poisons easily, and you can have too much of them if youre not careful.
E: to clarify, "you dont taste with your butthole" means while capsaicin is a fun flavor boosting chemical when paired with food, you do not get the additional flavor when that chemical passes through your south mouth and shares its little gift regardless.
I appreciate your elaborating.
I was going to say more until I realized that you and I are using different definitions of 'toxin'. There is more than one definition and yours is not the one that I was approaching the subject from. To me, a toxin is something that causes disease. But yes, you're right, a plant is considered toxic for different reasons.
What toxin causes disease in a way that capsaicin doesnt at a high enough dose? The only difference between capsaicin and any other toxin is the pathway of activity and dosage. Enough cap will definitely kill you, and it has a well documented list of capsaicin poisoning symptoms.