I realize I’m a special case, but my nose is essentially non-functional—I don’t smell food. While my sense of taste is more sensitive than your average person, I suspect I still miss out on some kinds of flavour. I believe my impairment is why I am drawn towards strong tastes like cheeses or, indeed, extremely spicy food. They’re the “only” flavours that I really experience strongly.
Cases like yours are unfortunate and I understand and respect those. I’m a fan of spice myself. Just not to the point it hurts me. I put spice in food to enhance flavours, not to cover it with a dose of pain.
If you can find it, try portuguese goat cheese or Azores cheese, long cure. Very flavourful but incredibly intense.
Ha! Never thought of that!
I’m very sensitive with smells, while my wife isn’t.
Although I do like spicy food, I still want to be able to taste anything else than hot pain.
My wife though enjoys chilli chips, where I couldn’t even stomach one of them.
It’s about the experience for me. I’m not sure how to explain it because it’s all subjective. Spice doesn’t really hurt me because I have a high tolerance, but it makes me feel… something? Perhaps it’s just like when other people eat a bit of wasabi? (I know that wasabi and peppers don’t work the same, but it still gives people that “pain” or maybe “kick”.)
I realize I’m a special case, but my nose is essentially non-functional—I don’t smell food. While my sense of taste is more sensitive than your average person, I suspect I still miss out on some kinds of flavour. I believe my impairment is why I am drawn towards strong tastes like cheeses or, indeed, extremely spicy food. They’re the “only” flavours that I really experience strongly.
Cases like yours are unfortunate and I understand and respect those. I’m a fan of spice myself. Just not to the point it hurts me. I put spice in food to enhance flavours, not to cover it with a dose of pain.
If you can find it, try portuguese goat cheese or Azores cheese, long cure. Very flavourful but incredibly intense.
Ha! Never thought of that!
I’m very sensitive with smells, while my wife isn’t.
Although I do like spicy food, I still want to be able to taste anything else than hot pain.
My wife though enjoys chilli chips, where I couldn’t even stomach one of them.
my dad says this same thing but like, capsaicin isn’t flavourful, it just hurts?
you can get peppers with loads of flavour and very little capsaicin
It’s about the experience for me. I’m not sure how to explain it because it’s all subjective. Spice doesn’t really hurt me because I have a high tolerance, but it makes me feel… something? Perhaps it’s just like when other people eat a bit of wasabi? (I know that wasabi and peppers don’t work the same, but it still gives people that “pain” or maybe “kick”.)