Hooked On Hot

It's been said that your first hit of marijuana can lead to heroin addiction. Like most, I recognize this myth as a silly scare tactic, despite not being a big fan of pot or of potheads. But when it comes to chili pepper, it is true, at least in my case. My first hit turned me into a hot food junky.

I was eight years old and had simply grabbed a 'Spicy' V8 juice out of the fridge by mistake. The molten red liquid stung like a bee, searing my virgin tongue as if it was suddenly placed on a barbecue. Why would anyone willingly inflict this sort of pain on themselves?

I soon found myself sprinkling red pepper flakes on my pizza, dropping Tobasco sauce in my soups and adding chilled pepperoncini to my sandwiches. Within a few years, I was dipping chips into jalapeno salsa at Mexican taquerias, spooning Hunan chile sauce on my plate at Chinese restaurants, loading up on Korean spicy cabbage known as 'Kim Chee,' and indulging in Thai and Indian curries with extra hot sauce on the side. I was fortunate that Berkeley, with its large international community, had a lot of options for which to indulge my explorations of everything spicy.

As I'd later experience with my first sip of scotch and my first oyster, stumbling upon something you'll one day love often begins with an unpleasant first step. This first step plants a seed, in this case a capsicum seed, which blossoms into a passionate plant of obsession. So what is it about hot food that keeps adventurous eaters such as myself coming back again and again to challenge ourselves, sometimes to the point of regret on the part of our stomachs?

The answer may be found in extreme music, such as heavy metal, hip hop, punk, avant garde jazz and twelve tone classical. These forms take you out of the so called 'normal' frame of reference and put you in a place of excitement, where you can step away from what is considered 'safe.' Here, in this elevated zone of heightened sensory awareness, you become independent from the mainstream. In much the same way, hot food lies outside of the realm of blandness embodied by tuna salad, meatloaf, Wonder Bread, Campbell's Soup and others items so commonly accepted in American homes.

Like an intense live concert, a spicy meal may leave you feeling beat up and worn out. But you also realize you have lived a little bit fuller as a result and are glad you did. And as soon as you recover, you find you are better for the experience and look forward to more.

In part II, we'll look at a special restaurant I visited in Japan a few days ago, whose deadly 'spicy ramen' inspired this post. It was delicious, painful and the hottest meal I've ever had...