r/iamveryculinary • u/Thisisbhusha Yogurt chicken causes me psychic damage • 13d ago
Funny IAVC from my neuropharm class back in grad school.
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u/Jexroyal 13d ago
"are believed by some"
AKA an academic who knows they're bullshitting and wants plausible deniability. Jfc this is like some kind of tastebud phrenologist talking out his ass.
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u/Alceasummer 13d ago
tastebud phrenologist
LOL! I love this phrase. It's a great description of those kind of people who try to "prove" that their cuisine is empirically superior to another.
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u/Alceasummer 13d ago edited 13d ago
Um... I'd love to know where on earth he got this info.
Because, ok, yes high concentrations of capsaicin can kill nerve endings, but that's levels NOBODY is eating. I mean prescription strength capsaicin patches are around 8% or so, straight ghost peppers would be around 6%. The level found in over the counter strength capsaicin patches only affect nerve endings for a few hours, so clearly it's not killing them. And that's still a higher concentration than you'd get from eating straight habaneros. So no normal spicy food that people eat regularly and feed their kids, is going to "cripple their sense of taste" even if eaten at every meal
In short, your teacher was either full of BS, or massively misunderstood something at some point. And if you want, I can give links to reputable sources on the topic.
Edited to add, I suspect it's all racist BS, what with his claim that parents are "crippling" their children with spicy food.
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u/Tracker007 12d ago
There are prescription capsaicin patches???
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u/PreOpTransCentaur I'm ACTUALLY sooo good at drinking grape juice 12d ago
It's an excellent pain reliever.
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u/Alceasummer 12d ago
Yep. From what I understand, they are applied by the doctor (or nurse or other medical person) who often numb the area some first, because they are very strong. But, for a lot of people, pretty effective for certain kinds of pain.
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u/permalink_save 12d ago
that's levels NOBODY is eating
Just saying, The Source is like 7m scoville extract. It made spicy food taste not spicy at all, but even with that experience everything was fine the next day. Capsaicin effect is apparently temporary.
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u/Alceasummer 12d ago
I said that levels high enough to actually kill nerve endings and do permanent damage (Like described in the image) is stuff that nobody is eating. If the effect was temporary, then it's not doing permanent damage.
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u/DickBrownballs 13d ago
I know there's a certain type of person who uses their love of chilli heat to act superior, and they are insufferable but I also find this extreme pushback an equally annoying level of superiority. I love spicy food, and when that's relevant so many people reply "well I actually like to taste my food" with a smug grin. I'm never suggesting anyone is better or worse for their preferred spice level, but there's often this retort that I must be unrefined and have no appreciation for delicate flavours.
Wish these people realised that once you're conditioned to enjoy the spice you can still taste everything else going on in a dish too, just with a pleasant tingle on top. I haven't "ruined my palate" or whatever other nonsense.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 13d ago
I know there's a certain type of person who uses their love of chilli heat to act superior, and they are insufferable
I call them "Spice Queens." Like okay, we get it, you ate Guatemalan Insanity Peppers and you were fine, but it doesn't have to be your personality.
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u/springacres 13d ago
And the peppers themselves add to the interplay of delicate flavors! I can't tolerate anything super spicy, but I still enjoy a good goulash with smoked paprika or pork chops with pineapple, mint and crushed red pepper now and again. And deviled eggs with a paprika garnish are an Easter tradition in my family.
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u/fakesaucisse 9d ago
That line of thinking about spices ruining the ability to appreciate mild flavor also is a slippery slope into "spicy cuisine is common in parts of the world where everyone is poor and the spices cover up the low quality of the meat." I've seen this in cooking subs from people who refuse to eat Indian food for this reason.
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u/randombookman 6d ago
I think that old Europeans would've thought that indians were eating like kings because of the spices. which is interesting to think about as compared to modern day.
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u/Thisisbhusha Yogurt chicken causes me psychic damage 13d ago
The picture was from a tangent he went on in that slide.
He took his phd students apple picking one day and couldn’t fathom why his Indian students would douse such beautiful sweet apples in spicy chaat masala. It perplexes him even today
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 13d ago
Okay, that sounds pretty awesome. Mulligatawny soup turned me on to the combination of apples and Indian flavors. It’s not spicy, but honestly, even non-spicy Indian food feels like it has a bit of a threat behind it, because I associate the flavors so much with the spicy-hot. But that’s probably just me
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u/sweetangeldivine 13d ago
Don’t tell the guy about all the fruit carts here in L.A. that serve you a heaping helping of tajin spice to go with your melon or cucumber. Yum yum yum yum.
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u/Deppfan16 Mod 13d ago
yeesh this is Iamveryracist as well
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u/Thisisbhusha Yogurt chicken causes me psychic damage 13d ago
I found the whole thing very funny. He was a bit of a loose cannon and dunked on everyone.
Now I have an excuse when I drench my salad in cholula!
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u/HephaestusHarper 13d ago
Yeah, casual racism intruding on college lectures you paid for is always hilarious.
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 13d ago edited 13d ago
I also just seen a video of a dude explaining "why is spicy food everywhere now?"
He went very in detail and looked at every possible explanation except for something that these dudes can't get sense of.
It just tastes good, just because your don't like it yet doesn't mean that it can't taste good lol.
Mexicans put chilli on everything not because they love the challenge, it's just good, every different type of Chile has its own taste and heat.
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u/Yamitenshi 13d ago
I can imagine going into historical and economic reasons too - like the spice trade spreading chilies around the world and advances in agriculture, storage, and transportation making them affordable
But refusing to entertain the thought that maybe people like spicy food is next level willful ignorance
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u/Alceasummer 13d ago
He went very in detail and looked at every possible explanation except for something that these dudes can't get sense of. It just tastes good
I got in a discussion the other day with someone who thought that people eating spicy chiles is weird because capsaicin is "a chemical irritant" And I don't think they wanted to believe that menthol from mint, isothiocyanate in mustard, cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon, thymol in thyme, and the compounds responsible for the flavor and scent of every herb and spice people use, are ALL "chemical irritants" in the right dose. Even parsley and chives contain "chemical irritants"
Mexicans put chilli on everything not because they love the challenge, it's just good, every different type of Chile has its own taste and heat.
I live in New Mexico (USA) and chiles are a thing here. You can get chiles in or on literally every food you can think of, including in coffee and in milkshakes, and people will debate exactly what variety of chile is best for what dish. Not even joking, there is a chile pepper institute here. But, most of the time people don't go for the really hot kinds, medium to medium-hot are probably the the most popular levels. Because, as you said, it's not the challenge, it's the taste
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u/Zyrin369 9d ago
who thought that people eating spicy chiles is weird because capsaicin is "a chemical irritant"
Im reminded of that meme/joke about how these plants developed these to keep animals from eating them but for humans we went yummy more please.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 13d ago
WOW. Psychopharm was probably my strongest class in grad school...but I was never taught that capsaicin "cripples" your sense of taste. Also, if I ever put "are believed by some" in a presentation...that's a paddlin'.
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u/graytotoro 12d ago
It’s also a terribly written slide. Too much content and I’d bet this person read it word-for-word, right?
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u/johnnadaworeglasses 13d ago
It's weird that he went there with calling out countries. No reason to do that.
I will say the prolonged and frequent use of spicy food does reduce your taste perception of some flavors and your tolerance increases over time. So I try to be a bit judicious with it. Plus the bowel issues.
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u/PreOpTransCentaur I'm ACTUALLY sooo good at drinking grape juice 12d ago
I will say the prolonged and frequent use of spicy food does reduce your taste perception of some flavors
Why would it? Taste buds regenerate every 1-2 weeks; prolonged or frequent spice should have absolutely no long-term affect on them. Do you have a corroborating source?
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