Seinfeld Moment : Not Hot Jalapenos

I read (or heard) somewhere, that a person's love for spicy food depends largely on the number of taste buds they have. That is, the less taste buds you have, the more you enjoy spicy foods. I tried to find a source for that little tidbit of information, but was unsuccessful so it must be false.

I did, however, find this funny response to a question on Google Answers:

Will Spicy Food Kill My Taste Buds?

Rob: Will eating spicy, hot food now burnout my taste buds when I'm older?

Dr. Dean: No, because it is the pain fibers on the tongue, not the taste buds, that respond to spicy food. Why we like pain on our tongues is anyone's guess.

So, it looks more like it's a pain tolerance thing than a taste bud deficiency.

Why do I like pain on my tongue? I love spicy food - LOVE it. I get hot wings and put hot sauce on them. I like my tongue to get numb. I don't know why. I'm a tongue masochist, I guess.

Wait. What was my point?

Not hot jalapenos, right.

Because I like spicy food, I often order spicy toppings or ingredients to bland foods. Burgers or sandwiches, I'll add hot peppers or jalapenos. Plain meat, like a pork chop or chicken breast gets a healthy dose of that chriacha chiriachi chiranchi wicked hot red pepper sriracha sauce.

Now, my problem is, I'm often disappointed when I order jalapenos. They're often not hot. They're more like soggy pickles or small, evil, dark cucumber slices. If a restaurant had bad tomatoes or bad cucumbers, they'd pitch them. But, they'll let not hot jalapenos sit around not hotting anything. I mean, they still look green and they have the potential to be hot, but they're not. They're not hot at all. Not hot. They're false jalapenos. Falsapenos.

Tags: jalapenos, spicy food