Why do you like spicy food?

   I am quite smitten with the Cajun style of sustenance. My personal style is I’m cooking for grandma too. The earthy style with the AIEEEE applied at the table works well in our house.
   My wife and I fell in love with habaneros years ago and it has become our number one source of warmth as well as flavor. We also use a variety of chili’s both fresh and dried to pump up anything from Jelly to chile. While we wouldn’t win a pepper eating contest we cook daily with the help of capsicum.

"Spicy" and "hot" aren't the same in our house & cooking. Like Meg, we eat a wide variety of foods from all around the world. I thoroughly enjoy masala chai (especially with the addition of rose petals), and spice cake, ginger snaps, cinnamon rolls (heavy on the cinnamon, please) - and a long list of other foods considered 'spicy', that are not at all hot. They're merely heavy on the ingredient category of spices.

Now on heat... I used to always love it, as long as it was as flavorful as it was hot. Most of the time, I still do, and have many times 'out-hotted' the awesome Thai servers who would gently warn me against the hottest items on their menus, telling me, I wouldn't be able to eat them, that they couldn't even eat them. But, I ordered anyway, loving both the incredible flavors and the heat they brought, and those servers were mystified at how I could happily polish off every last morsel. I still enjoy that level of heat, more often than not, but my gut occasionally rebels, now. Why? I think it kicks my endorphins into high gear - a huge shot of dopamine...

Ben Zumeta wrote:I would bet I am in the 99th percentile of heat lovers in the US, but speculate I’d be closer to the average in India or Thailand. I think people have different tastes because it increases the diversity and of foods available to a given population, and reduces competitiveness for foods that could lead to social strife. I will let you enjoy your goat cheese, and fewer people will compete with me for the hot stuff.

Just had to comment here.  I make Cowboy Candy for gifts but always have some of the juice left over after packing the jars.  I mix that into my freshly made chevre and it's fantastic!

Anne Miller wrote:My level of spiciness is taco salad and guacamole with Pace Picante sauce.  Period.

Some one mentioned Cajun food, I like Cajun food though to me what I have had is not too spicy.  Or maybe say what I make is not that spicy.