Super Familiar with The Wilsons

To Spice or Not to Spice

February 11, 2021 The Wilsons Season 2 Episode 9
Super Familiar with The Wilsons
To Spice or Not to Spice
Show Notes Transcript

We dig into reasons why people like to eat spicy food...and then we eat spicy food! Scotch Bonnet, Wasabi, Horseradish and...ginger??

There is no reason for us to continue to torture ourselves...except, of course, for your entertainment. Enjoy!

Opening music by Josh Wilson.

All other music is by Andrew Wilson - Find him at electricsheap.bandcamp.com/music

Super Familiar with The Wilsons 

Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wilsonspodcast
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Contact us! superfamiliarwilsons@gmail.com

We are part of a network of Gainesville Podcasts...check it out and listen to more great content. The ImaGNVille Podcast Network: www.ImaGNVille.com

Josh Wilson:

To spice or not to spice. Let's go. Well. This is super familiar with the Wilsons. I'm Josh. I'm Amanda, and I'm very excited for this episode. Amanda, are you excited for this episode? I'm

Amanda Wilson:

cautiously excited.

Josh Wilson:

So we are going to talk about all things spice in this episode. Now, we've done spices before we've done I think three or four episodes where we where we have tasted different spices, right?

Amanda Wilson:

I thought there was one or two,

Josh Wilson:

okay, well, it just felt like more well, then we should have three or four.

Amanda Wilson:

What we're gonna do that tonight.

Josh Wilson:

And so we are going to do that tonight. And I'm very excited. It's been kind of a heavy pandemic. And so it is our pleasure in our joy to bring this goofy kind of trivial stuff to you. But we also want to teach you something along the way.

Amanda Wilson:

You know what I'm excited about? Go ahead, the fact that this means I get to eat bread, because we've been keto for a little bit of a time. And it's been successful, but I miss bread. And so there's bread on the table, and I'm excited about it.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, well, these spices, I don't think some of them are keto friendly, but whatever. So why do you think people like spicy food?

Amanda Wilson:

Well, I mean, I think that I've come to it. I can't talk, you know, I think I've come to appreciate spicy food, and that it really can enhance the flavor of what you're eating without adding a whole lot of like caloric value to your food.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, well, there are actually and I've grown to appreciate some spicy foods a great deal, but there's actually research behind why people like spicy food. And so I'm going to read some of these things. All of these are supposedly supported by research, but after that, I read them I want you to tell me if this is a hot take, or if it sounds fake, okay, now,

Amanda Wilson:

and if I get it wrong, I have to one of the things No, we're not to the eating part.

Josh Wilson:

That's part two. That's after the commercial break. Okay, so first reason they say is the system of pleasure and pain works together. It was found that spicy food triggers the pleasure center in the brain along with the pain center, and that was also activated. Some people found these feelings to be pleasant.

Amanda Wilson:

I think that's true. That's a hot take.

Josh Wilson:

That's a hot take. Well, I think that that's episode number three of 50 Shades of Grey, but whatever.

Amanda Wilson:

But is it true?

Josh Wilson:

Not all of these are supposedly true, but some of them sound fake to me. Oh, I

Amanda Wilson:

thought you were saying things that are wrong.

Josh Wilson:

No, but see, to me that sounds stupid.

Amanda Wilson:

No, to me, that sounds like a thing.

Josh Wilson:

Okay. Here's one

Amanda Wilson:

pleasure pain principle. To sense

Josh Wilson:

danger without risk. It's believed that spicy food gives people the thrill of facing danger without actually being at risk. It's similar to watching a horror movie where the person enjoyed the danger because they know that they are saying oh,

Amanda Wilson:

I don't like the horror movies because I close my eyes and then imagine that I'm not safe

Josh Wilson:

Well, I absolutely judge my capability to face danger and death by how much habanero I can mainline

Amanda Wilson:

I mean, I'm staring at this wasabi and I'm feeling kind of scared.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, well there you go. Well, maybe that's a hot take then who knows? Okay, how about this people like the relief they get when the pain ends? And another theory it suggested that people like spicy food because they like the feelings of they have relief they get when the food when the food effect ends. That's it That's the I'm gonna go ahead. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Amanda Wilson:

I like it when it's over. People like

Josh Wilson:

the relief I like it when it's over like

Amanda Wilson:

it when it's over. That's like punch me so I'll feel good when it stops hurting.

Josh Wilson:

Alright, here we go. here's here's one that I've actually heard. endorphin addiction. spicy foods sends pain signals to the brain and forces the brain to release endorphins. Yes, the brain's painkillers. Endorphins are known for their addictive effects. And this might be the reason that some people find spicy food addictive. This is also the reason why when I have a headache, I always tell you to hit me in the toe with a ball peen hammer.

Amanda Wilson:

Yes, good. All right,

Josh Wilson:

because somehow Yeah, anyway. Next one, they are action seekers. In one study, it was found that thrill seekers and people who like adventures are six times more likely to like spicy food. Okay, first of all people who like adventures I'm sorry do people still adventure you know, it reminds me of it reminds me of those books where it is your own adventure if you want wasabi turned to page 12 if you don't turn to page 13 stupid these are all dumb. All right, next. Oh, this is my favorite. Men unconsciously feel strong. Oh, because men are always pressured to man up and withstand pain. Some men get an unconscious self esteem boost when they eat spicy food because it makes them feel like they are man enough. So if you want to disprove this theory, listen to the episode where you take the heat so much better than I do so there's no habaneros I also there's an episode of super familiar with the Wilsons when we were still called the Wilsons do a podcast during a pandemic, where I freaked out when I have the habanero and you take it like a champ, so I don't unconsciously feel strong, I consciously feel weak.

Amanda Wilson:

I wish we would have had the habaneros lying around when I was in labor and the epidural wasn't working. It would have made me feel better about your pain levels. Maybe?

Josh Wilson:

I don't know. skip that one because that's stupid. Well, some of them are okay to help them survive spicy food can help the people I'm sorry, spicy food can help protect people from microbes and parasites. It's believed that people who eat more spicy food have a higher chance of survival. This belief may have led some people to like spicy foods

Amanda Wilson:

survival from what just the world or like when you're out in the wilderness

Josh Wilson:

microbes the microbes in the parasite. My friend Chris had this hot take that whenever he visited a foreign country he takes heat he would take hot sauce to quote kill the stomach amoebas unquote.

Amanda Wilson:

I mean, I think vodka does that fine.

Josh Wilson:

Well, there you go. cultural influences Some people believe that cultural influences can let some people like certain foods According to this theory. The positive interactions that occur during mealtimes make people like the food shared by the family. This could be the reason why some people in some countries like spicy food

Amanda Wilson:

now because they sit together at a table and eat it.

Josh Wilson:

Can we talk about which positive interactions during mealtimes? The positive interaction where the four year old is constantly saying I'm not hungry and trying to escape or when the dog is constantly trying to steal our food from the table because let's be honest, dog food tastes like but I'm,

Amanda Wilson:

I'm my positive interactions that I've already started eating the bread.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, stop though. Stop stopping. No one wants to hear you eat on a podcast unless of course you're eating painful things like Hendra does. Here's one increased exposure can lead to liking spicy food. In one study, it was found that as people got more exposed to spicy food, the burn intensity decreased thus the food became more enjoyable. Is that the intensity? decreases or is that that their taste buds are getting burned?

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah, know that they're killing their taste buds.

Josh Wilson:

I will I will tell you this. I mean, this is one of those things. Have you ever do you have a food or a drink that you had to make yourself like?

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah, but I don't still like it. I mean, there are things that I had to eat when I was little that I had to make myself eat but I don't still eat them. Okay agency over my diet. I say no. Well, I okay, you did the beet juice thing. You had to make

Josh Wilson:

a beet juice. Ah, that's true that I was drinking beet juice for a while for the health benefits and I ended up magically liking it but a better example for me is I made myself like coffee.

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah, I was gonna say I made myself like black. I don't like it. I've made myself tolerate black coffee when I've been intermittently fasting. Because you can have the black coffee but not with the cream because I don't typically drink it without cream. I yeah. And I think I wean myself off of sweetening my coffee. When I first was drinking coffee. I would drink coffee with cream and sugar then it became coffee with cream and honey. And then it just became coffee with cream. And I can tolerate black coffee, but I don't like it.

Josh Wilson:

So I'm from Miami and coffee is a big thing there especially like coffee, Cheetos or anything like that. And I made myself like coffee because everyone around me was drinking it and I did not like it. But after a while now I love coffee. I mean, I honestly love coffee. So that's one of those things. So maybe that's a hot take. Okay, so now for part two, we're gonna skip the commercial break because we have no sponsors. So, we're gonna go straight to part two and part two is our little taste test. So this is gonna be a fun little quiz. And so this is what I'm going to do. You have in front of you there some spoons, can you describe the spoons for our listeners, please,

Amanda Wilson:

I have six spoons. Five of them are actually made of metal. One of them is plastic looking like metal. But you wanted me to talk about what's on the spoons. Okay. Um, well, I'm seeing some wasabi and it's about a pea size of wasabi. Next to it, there's something that looks like ketchup. Then something next to it looks like mayonnaise. And then I got something that looks like barbecue sauce. Something that I know to be ginger because I can smell it from here and there's a lot on that spoon. And then something that looks like a brown globby sauce with seeds in it, which I'm very not looking for too.

Josh Wilson:

Great. So this is what I have the same plate in front of me. This is what we're gonna do though. We are going to I'm going to give you an out. Okay, I'm gonna get I'm gonna give you an especially Get up on your microphone, please.

Amanda Wilson:

I wasn't saying anything right then. So did I need to be on my microphone to be silent? You

Josh Wilson:

said okay about a foot from microphone and I can tell that that's the three of our 10 listeners were really annoyed. So this is what I'm going to do. I am going to read some facts about the substance, whatever substance we're doing. And then I'm going to ask you a trivia question. And if you get the trivia question, right, you don't have to eat that. Okay. Okay, so, so this will be fun. So,

Amanda Wilson:

how do you not have to eat things or eat things? No,

Josh Wilson:

I'm just gonna eat them all. Okay, that's why I have them for I'm just gonna meet them all. Now, I've also provided for you some bread, bread. And some we're calling it milk.

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah, we're calling it milk because we don't have we have milk. It does not smell good. So this is really just half and half cut with water.

Josh Wilson:

But same same deal,

Amanda Wilson:

but I also have a Bud Light seltzer strawberry in front of me, so I'm gonna drink that instead.

Josh Wilson:

I don't think that will help you.

Amanda Wilson:

I mean, if I drink enough of it, it will.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, we don't have that that much now, so, first one is ginger. So that's that. That's that's been right there that you've identified the fake spoon. Yeah. Ginger is one of the oldest medicinal foods since the herb originated in Southeast Asia. It's not surprising that ancient Chinese and Indian healers have made ginger a part of their toolkit for 1000s of years. ancient texts credit ginger as being a universal great medicine. An old indian proverb says that that everything good is found in ginger. Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that ginger expels cold and quote restores devastated Yang

Amanda Wilson:

like it.

Josh Wilson:

Why is ginger spicy the pungency can be attributed to the presence of ginger rolls, which gingerols is one of my favorite candies. This particular chemical is not too distant cousin of capsaicin, the compound compound found in chilies and spices. So there you go. And so are you ready for your your your trivia question to get you out of having to down this ginger?

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah, but I will say when I was pregnant with a 14 year old I had really bad morning sickness for 15 or 16 weeks and so I had a lot of candy ginger I would just suck

Josh Wilson:

on this is not candied ginger.

Amanda Wilson:

No, I know but I'm saying that I am. I'm have that thing where you associate a flavor with something else. So not only is it spicy it also makes me think of being super nauseated. Okay, so

Josh Wilson:

your your question your trivia question ready?

Amanda Wilson:

Yes.

Josh Wilson:

When was Geri Halliwell born?

Amanda Wilson:

Oh god ginger spice. Okay, I think she's older than me. 1972

Josh Wilson:

wrong. You have to give me the month. Okay.

Amanda Wilson:

The date lies Yeah, know that the month ended and the day March 17 1972 wrong

Josh Wilson:

August 6 1972 Eat up.

Amanda Wilson:

Oh, freak though. I will get the year right. Okay, writing whatever I got the year right? Yes. All right. Go. No, no, no, no, come on. Oh, oh. That's soap. soap.

Josh Wilson:

Alright, can you please describe what you're experiencing?

Amanda Wilson:

I just did it's like spicy baths. Oh, that's

Josh Wilson:

already with the bread.

Amanda Wilson:

Not that you just trace gross. You're I like ginger flavor and things but I don't like that. I like it. So What's it taste like to

Josh Wilson:

ginger? Next, so we're going no, this way this now? Well, okay, no, skip skip one and go to the white mayonnaise look and stuff. That's what that's horseradish.

Amanda Wilson:

Okay on that I like horseradish.

Josh Wilson:

horseradish, is a perennial plant of the family brassicaceae which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage and radish. Cool. It is a root vegetable cultivated and used worldwide as a spice and a condiment. I wouldn't ever want to use it as a condiment that would be very painful. You're silly. This species is probably native to South Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Amanda Wilson:

Alright, let me eat the

Josh Wilson:

typical serving of one tablespoon horseradish supplies no significant nutrient nutrient

Amanda Wilson:

value, right.

Josh Wilson:

So you're ready for your? Your your question. I don't know when horseradish spice was born. The enzyme in horseradish. It's called h RP is used extensively in molecular biology and biochemistry primarily for its ability to blank

Amanda Wilson:

it can Your erectile dysfunction,

Josh Wilson:

amplify a weak signal and increased detectability of a target molecule eat up cool.

Amanda Wilson:

That's good. I really like horseradish. You're making a face and I'm not. He's making a face and I'm not. I mean, it's up my nose. It is up in my nose. It is. This isn't like an audio medium we have, you're not saying anything. So

Josh Wilson:

there are certain different kinds of spice. There's like the capsaicin, some type of spice, which just burns. Then there's that which is stings your nose. And so it kind of hits you with heat in your mouth, but then you think, Oh, it's fine. It's over. And then that junk runs right upstairs and starts knocking over the furniture.

Amanda Wilson:

That's a lovely flavor, though.

Josh Wilson:

It is. If it wasn't like so hot, it would, it would just be a great flavor. I

Amanda Wilson:

like it. I would eat a horseradish lollipop or a popsicle.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, well, I'll get on that. Okay, next. Let's see. Next we are doing I think it's the the barbecue looking sauce. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. Okay, that's sesh one sauce.

Amanda Wilson:

Okay. I like sash one stuff. Oh, good. Oh, what did you spill on you?

Josh Wilson:

ginger spilled such one sauce. Damn, and I like these pants too. We're gonna have to watch that. Okay, so, Swan is is a province. And the most unique and important spice in Sichuan. cuisine is the second one pepper, which is a peppercorn it has an intense fragrant citrus like flavor and produces a tingling numbing sensation in the mouth. And so I was talking about talking to you about how capsaicin burns and and the horseradish space stuff goes up your nose. And so this creates tingling and numbing senses. Like

Amanda Wilson:

is it gonna make my lips look all like?

Josh Wilson:

I don't know. Because I like that. I don't know. So.

Amanda Wilson:

So how much of this full spoon Do I have to eat? I

Josh Wilson:

that was just for the picture. So you don't just get enough of it to get the flavor. So here's your question, but you might not have to. You might be looking forward to that. Okay. The capital of the swan province is blank.

Amanda Wilson:

I don't know. I did. Shanghai.

Josh Wilson:

It's Chengdu. Okay, cool.

Amanda Wilson:

Um, I'm sorry to any of my friends who I didn't know that too. Okay. I'm just gonna I like it. I'm excited about it looks yummy. All right. Well, that's

Josh Wilson:

this I actually what I spilled was something different.

Amanda Wilson:

Oh my god. I ate that whole spoonful and it's so good.

Josh Wilson:

As a little spice,

Amanda Wilson:

a little spice. Lovely.

Josh Wilson:

Starting to burn a little bit more. Okay. Next,

Amanda Wilson:

I'm licking the spoon. I like that.

Josh Wilson:

That's good. Go to Jang I've heard of gotu. Jang is a savory, sweet and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking is made from chili powder, glutinous rice, fermented soy bean powder, barley powder and salt. The sweetness comes from the starch of cooked glutinous rice, not keto friendly.

Amanda Wilson:

Well, but this is gluten free on the front of it.

Josh Wilson:

Oh, well, good. Good, then. Excellent. Traditionally, it has been naturally fermented over years in earthenware. Okay. Okay. So, but you could get out of eating this is the the red are looking like catch up looking. Yeah, yeah. Okay, spot you might not have to eat it if you can get this.

Amanda Wilson:

Can I still eat the bread?

Josh Wilson:

What does the name babe and Bob which is a traditional Korean dish? literally mean?

Amanda Wilson:

I don't know. But they talk about it a lot on Kim's convenience. Um, I don't know.

Josh Wilson:

Boy was worse. It means mixed rice.

Amanda Wilson:

Okay, let's do it. I'm excited about this.

Josh Wilson:

Go to john.

Amanda Wilson:

Did you do it? Yeah, it's not good.

Josh Wilson:

Oh, I like it. I like it.

Amanda Wilson:

Talk to me about this since a show Yeah.

Josh Wilson:

It's burning. It's kind of like a dark ketchup with with spice flex it doesn't

Amanda Wilson:

smell like anything.

Josh Wilson:

Well go ahead and eat it then.

Amanda Wilson:

It's definitely got that fermented taste.

Josh Wilson:

So it's got smoky

Amanda Wilson:

it's hitting the back of my throat Yeah, it's smoky. Oh, it's not as I don't like as much as this one. super salty.

Josh Wilson:

Yes.

Amanda Wilson:

All right, meaning the bread but only because I don't like the taste of it. Not because it's hot. All right.

Josh Wilson:

Why don't want the wasabi. Next wasabi is a plant of the family that includes horseradish and mustard. As we said, a paste is made from its ground. rhizomes and it's used as a pungent, pungent excuse me condiment for sushi and other foods. Similar in taste to hot mustard I should have gotten hot mustard for this and or horseradish rather than chili peppers as it stimulates the nose more than the tongue.

Amanda Wilson:

Alright, let's go. I'm gonna eat this whole thing of wasabi.

Josh Wilson:

No, you might not have to that you want to avoid it right now,

Amanda Wilson:

I get this question right you might get me like where the

Josh Wilson:

2011 eight Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the researchers for determining blank.

Amanda Wilson:

That wasabi is hot. The ideal

Josh Wilson:

density of airborne wasabi to wake people in the event of an emergency. How was

Amanda Wilson:

this a thing that somebody decided we need to figure out? Well, they

Josh Wilson:

they determined that wasabi was kind of good for like, in the same way that smelling salts.

Amanda Wilson:

Smelling salt is basically what you're saying. So

Josh Wilson:

yes, it's like smelling salt.

Amanda Wilson:

So if I were to swoon in the 18th century you would use wasabi to wake me

Josh Wilson:

or if the the intensity of eating this wasabi makes you pass out then I'll use the sabi

Amanda Wilson:

sabi to wake me up.

Josh Wilson:

That's right, ready?

Amanda Wilson:

Are you gonna do the whole span? Yeah, okay me to go. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh, God.

Josh Wilson:

Oh my God. Oh, it's already every part of my body. The entire top half of my body is on fire. It's passing

Amanda Wilson:

what's the bread? No.

Josh Wilson:

It's passing. I yeah. Wasabi is like the, the worst heat because it hits all the different parts. So at one time, my mouth was burning. My nasal cavity was burning. In my chest was burning. And also, I legitimately smell burning in my nose right now. Like, can you smell that?

Amanda Wilson:

Yes.

Josh Wilson:

I you know what smells like it smells like burning hair. Like I'm not kidding. It smells like if you burn your hair if that's exactly what it smells like. Oh my god,

Amanda Wilson:

it burned the back of my throat. I thought that blood was coming from the back of my throat.

Josh Wilson:

Well, anything after that is going to be easy.

Amanda Wilson:

Okay, well don't say that because this wasn't a Guana on it which looks like it wants to kill me. Seriously, I

Josh Wilson:

still smell burning here.

Amanda Wilson:

But I liked the taste of wasabi that's what's hard is I liked the taste but

Josh Wilson:

but guess what? Guess what? What? I like it now that it's gone. It's gone.

Amanda Wilson:

Yeah. So I really like wasabi like mixed nuts like the wasabi almonds. I really liked the wasabi tastes like wasabi peas, too. Yeah, but

Josh Wilson:

neither of those are this strong. No. All right, you ready for the last one? Awful.

Amanda Wilson:

Yep.

Josh Wilson:

All right. Last one. You may be familiar with this, the scotch bonnet pepper. It is ubiquitous in West Africa. Most scotch bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units for conspiracy Moche most dude, things are burned. What can I say? Things are now numb. For comparison. Most jalapeno peppers have a heat rating of 2500

Amanda Wilson:

euros though.

Josh Wilson:

I don't know that's not on this page. It doesn't matter.

Amanda Wilson:

No, it's I need that for reference. Keep talking. I'll look it up.

Josh Wilson:

No, don't look it up because it might screw up the trivia question so hey, okay, so the scotch bonnet has a sweeter flavor and stouter shaped distinct from its habanero relative with which it is often confused. It gives jerk dishes like pork and chicken other Caribbean dishes their unique flavor.

Amanda Wilson:

I like jerk flavors. Okay,

Josh Wilson:

now the scotch bonnet ready for you might be able to get out of this. If you can get the this trivia question right. The Scotch bonnet is named for its resemblance to blank.

Amanda Wilson:

Is the bonnet of Mary Queen of Scots

Josh Wilson:

wrong. What the TAM o shanter.

Amanda Wilson:

Oh the TAM hat.

Josh Wilson:

Yes. Okay. All right. Ready? Nope.

Amanda Wilson:

launcher.

Josh Wilson:

launcher. Don't get it. Good.

Amanda Wilson:

That's not doing anything. It tastes like bad pizza.

Josh Wilson:

Okay, mine burns a little bit. That's fine. Zero problem without you know why. Why? Because the wasabi burned everything, every field, everything in you. I just don't like the flavor. That's got a really like burnt taste taste

Amanda Wilson:

like Bert cheese on like a little caesars $5 pizza.

Josh Wilson:

Oh yeah, cuz usually burnt cheese is good. So there you go there is our exploration of spice hopefully. Oh no. What's wrong? Oh, it's

Amanda Wilson:

the back of my throat.

Josh Wilson:

Oh

Amanda Wilson:

I think the back of my throat is bleeding.

Josh Wilson:

Okay Do you need what do you need bread? No drink the milk. Mm hmm. But that was a delayed reaction.

Amanda Wilson:

I want more wasabi

Josh Wilson:

Is it that bad? It's

Amanda Wilson:

like it's painful.

Josh Wilson:

All right well hopefully you enjoyed this exploration of spice with the Wilsons. Hopefully you learn something all of the facts that I read are supposedly true. So you got that going for you

Amanda Wilson:

if you want some Google Jang we have some you can come get it along with whatever that nonsense is. I just ate

Josh Wilson:

Scotch bonnet peppers, we'll give it to the middle son. He likes that stuff.

Amanda Wilson:

Not like wasabi.

Josh Wilson:

Speaking of middle son, all of our incidental music, which is the music that's playing right now is by Andrew Wilson. He's a great musician and he's my middle son. He does not like wasabi we belong to a network of Gainesville bass podcast called imagine Ville. So go to imagine bill calm. That's I am a G and V i ll E. Imagine bill comm send us a send us an email. Let us know if you've tried any of these things or twitter at us. What is our Twitter at Wilson's

Amanda Wilson:

underscore do let us know what your favorite spicy thing is. And we'll eat an episode. I have now made a horseradish sandwich with what's left of my bread crust.

Josh Wilson:

Excellent. Send us an email at if you still do that sort of thing at super familiar Wilson's at gmail.com. And so we are now going to go drink lots of milk and probably have to spend the rest of the evening in various small rooms in our house. And so until our next episode, I'm Josh, Amanda. Talk to you later.