Roughly 10 years ago, I briefly worked as a waiter in an Indian restaurant in the midwest.
Easily, more than 90% of the white people who wanted things "spicy" on the Indian spicy scale could _not_ handle it.
So the heuristic of interpreting the definition of spicy in the context of their background more often than not works out. (If it didn't, Indian restaurants who have been established for decades would have learned and changed their ways)
On a separately interesting note, I'm a brown person... I love spicy Indian food, but I have trouble handling it. Invariably I get all snotty, but I keep eating it. I have to keep a ton of tissues nearby to keep wiping snot, but my god food without the spicy kick is just too bland for me.
I wish so bad that I didn't get snotty every time I ate spicy.
It's kind of embarrassing and disgusting that when I'm eating out with folks, they have to see me constantly wiping my nose.
Only two times in my life have I been brought to weep because of how spicy something was, and both times, it was the F'ing Cajuns. I have no idea what they did, but oh my god.
They showed up one time at an Octoberfest (!!!) with their damned salsa. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get something that will cut heat at a German festival? I had to eat a cream puff the size of my head to stop the pain.
And yes, every time, my nose runs like a sieve. I feel your pain.
One word of advice, capsaicin is an oil. Trying to dull the pain with milk, etc is a waste of time. You need to dissolve the oil off your tongue and for that alcohol is the best solution (no pun intended). Pure spirits work well to remove the capsaicin and then you can follow up with something that will soothe your raw nerve endings. So, German beer may have been the right answer for you at the time.
> One word of advice, capsaicin is an oil. Trying to dull the pain with milk, etc is a waste of time.
No, it's not; cold milk, largely because of casein, which is lipophilic, is one of the most effective remedies (sugar solution in water is also effective, though somewhat less so.)
> You need to dissolve the oil off your tongue and for that alcohol is the best solution (no pun intended). Pure spirits work well to remove the capsaicin and then you can follow up with something that will soothe your raw nerve endings. So, German beer may have been the right answer for you at the time.
Pure alcohol is effective, and recommended for cleaning things that have been contaminated with capsaicin, but is not a great idea to ingest. Mixtures of alcohol and water that are far more of the latter than the former are not particularly useful.
Beer consistently raises the pain temporarily, and does nothing longer-term, in my experience. Milk and sugar soothe for the short term, but nothing long term. Haven’t tried spirits, but given how beer goes, I dont have much hopes
My nose runs, but I also get the hiccups. I met Mario Batali a couple times (we happened to vacation next door to each other a couple years in a row), and he told me that happens to him too. Never noticed it happening to anyone else, though!
Easily, more than 90% of the white people who wanted things "spicy" on the Indian spicy scale could _not_ handle it.
So the heuristic of interpreting the definition of spicy in the context of their background more often than not works out. (If it didn't, Indian restaurants who have been established for decades would have learned and changed their ways)
On a separately interesting note, I'm a brown person... I love spicy Indian food, but I have trouble handling it. Invariably I get all snotty, but I keep eating it. I have to keep a ton of tissues nearby to keep wiping snot, but my god food without the spicy kick is just too bland for me.
I wish so bad that I didn't get snotty every time I ate spicy.
It's kind of embarrassing and disgusting that when I'm eating out with folks, they have to see me constantly wiping my nose.