Thai food in Thailand is nowhere near as spicy as “Thai Spicy” or even “Hot” Thai food in the states, in my experience. Some places I went it approaches or slightly exceeds “Hot”, but on the whole I think the spiciness of Thai food is way overblown.
In my experience the spiciness levels are 1, 2, and 3 meaning 1 - 3 dried or fresh birdseye (or similar) red chilis. It’s pretty standardized and 3 is a hot but still pleasant level of spiciness. Thai people aren’t competing to see who can light their asshole on fire, they just want good food.
Yeah I’m convinced that Spicelords are just sad literally tasteless people who can’t enjoy food on a culinary level as much as they can on a competitive level. Anyone who likes it so spicy that you’re mostly tasting spice, I’m not impressed bro. I can eat like that too. I just choose not to because I have actual taste. Don’t say this “ohhh but I’m used to it so I taste the flavor too” no you don’t, you taste a sad mangled version of the flavor through the spice. How many professional taste testers or culinary geniuses or famous chefs are scarfing down 5000 billion Scoville Ancient Ghost of The Demon King Peppers? Oh right, none of them. Fuck
Sometimes I just want a murder hot soup or entree because it beats the other recreational poisons in terms of long term damage, but I still feel good after.
I enjoy food, but I also like an occasional escape by capsaicin. If that’s ok with you, I mean.
Lol, I mean yeah I get you. Like I said, I can also eat super spicy food. And that’s not the sort of thing you find out by accident. There is a certain pleasure to it, maybe sinus clearing, or the sort of psychological sensation akin to a cold plunge from forcing yourself to endure something difficult. And I love the hottest variety of hot cheetos. And Thai food really does need some decent hest or its just not right. I think the true defining characteristic of a Spicelord isn’t enjoying super spicy food, but being pretentious and weird about it.
I mean it’s like getting a taste for bitter things - once you are used to it, the flavor is more than just “spice.” I have four different bottles of hot sauce over 1M scoville, and I can easily tell them apart by taste and smell. It opens up an entirely new realm of flavor profiles once you can tolerate the spice and taste what comes with it.
For sure, for sure. I don’t mean to disparage spice itself. I also judge people who refuse to have spicy food (unless it’s for medical reasons ofc), and the classic bland food fan who thinks black peppercorn is spicy. I guess I just pretty much am judging everyone aside from the Goldilocks zone people who appreciate and value spice but also don’t place it above everything else or turn it into something its not
The spicy things I enjoy are Sriacha, Doritos dynamite Limon, Taco Bell mild but just for the flavor it’s not really spicy at all. Some people would probably call me a bitch for not liking it super hot. I actually like Frank’s red hot because it reminds me of the shitty hot sauce from grade school and it gives me nostalgia.
My biggest annoyance with spicy food is that I want the experience to stop when I finish eating. People say oh drink milk or whatever but that simply doesn’t work well.
If that’s what’s holding you back, don’t worry. Thai people are very chill and kind on the whole. Also the economy is very dependent on tourism, so dealing with westerners is part of that. And, the US has not fucked Thailand over anywhere near as much as the surrounding countries (vietnam & cambodia, mostly, but even those folks are extremely gracious). People will appreciate you if you are kind, polite, and try to follow local customs.
You’ll find yourself explaining whats wrong with Trump more often than explaining that you don’t support America and Americans have exactly zero influence on its actions; when I was there last year, Vietnamese liked him because the only thing they knew about him was the tarriffs on China and the Chinese often thought MAGA just meant develop America, the way China developed itself.
I think something that complicates it is that spice tolerance increases as you eat more spicy things. Some people experience that 1 the same as others feel the 3 and vice versa.
If Thailand is as used to tourists as other comments have said, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they do something similar to western restaurants with spice: over exagerate how spicy everything is so that tough guys can ask for something that will make them look tough without risking the staff needing to deal with some of them crying about it being too spicy (and maybe also feeling like they need to prove their toughness some other way).
So it wouldn’t surprise me if the home cooking experience is more in line with what people would expect of Thai cuisine. And not because they want to blast their tastebuds and assholes, but because their tolerance is high from eating spicy food their whole lives and that’s how much they need to get to a “pleasantly hot” level.
That’s how I feel about spicy food in Texas. “Texas Spicy Chili” anywhere else in the US is going to be way hotter than what is generally found in Texas.
Thai food in Thailand is nowhere near as spicy as “Thai Spicy” or even “Hot” Thai food in the states, in my experience. Some places I went it approaches or slightly exceeds “Hot”, but on the whole I think the spiciness of Thai food is way overblown.
In my experience the spiciness levels are 1, 2, and 3 meaning 1 - 3 dried or fresh birdseye (or similar) red chilis. It’s pretty standardized and 3 is a hot but still pleasant level of spiciness. Thai people aren’t competing to see who can light their asshole on fire, they just want good food.
Yeah I’m convinced that Spicelords are just sad literally tasteless people who can’t enjoy food on a culinary level as much as they can on a competitive level. Anyone who likes it so spicy that you’re mostly tasting spice, I’m not impressed bro. I can eat like that too. I just choose not to because I have actual taste. Don’t say this “ohhh but I’m used to it so I taste the flavor too” no you don’t, you taste a sad mangled version of the flavor through the spice. How many professional taste testers or culinary geniuses or famous chefs are scarfing down 5000 billion Scoville Ancient Ghost of The Demon King Peppers? Oh right, none of them. Fuck
it’s not that, it’s that i get a tummyache if i don’t eat enough spicy food each day.
opposite of all y’all who get tummyaches if you eat any spicy food i know i’m weird. they have literally tried to study it in a lab.
i had some really fucky gastro stuff happen to me and my surgeon just happened to be plugged into research so i got to be a professional test subject
Sometimes I just want a murder hot soup or entree because it beats the other recreational poisons in terms of long term damage, but I still feel good after.
I enjoy food, but I also like an occasional escape by capsaicin. If that’s ok with you, I mean.
Lol, I mean yeah I get you. Like I said, I can also eat super spicy food. And that’s not the sort of thing you find out by accident. There is a certain pleasure to it, maybe sinus clearing, or the sort of psychological sensation akin to a cold plunge from forcing yourself to endure something difficult. And I love the hottest variety of hot cheetos. And Thai food really does need some decent hest or its just not right. I think the true defining characteristic of a Spicelord isn’t enjoying super spicy food, but being pretentious and weird about it.
I mean it’s like getting a taste for bitter things - once you are used to it, the flavor is more than just “spice.” I have four different bottles of hot sauce over 1M scoville, and I can easily tell them apart by taste and smell. It opens up an entirely new realm of flavor profiles once you can tolerate the spice and taste what comes with it.
For sure, for sure. I don’t mean to disparage spice itself. I also judge people who refuse to have spicy food (unless it’s for medical reasons ofc), and the classic bland food fan who thinks black peppercorn is spicy. I guess I just pretty much am judging everyone aside from the Goldilocks zone people who appreciate and value spice but also don’t place it above everything else or turn it into something its not
The spicy things I enjoy are Sriacha, Doritos dynamite Limon, Taco Bell mild but just for the flavor it’s not really spicy at all. Some people would probably call me a bitch for not liking it super hot. I actually like Frank’s red hot because it reminds me of the shitty hot sauce from grade school and it gives me nostalgia.
My biggest annoyance with spicy food is that I want the experience to stop when I finish eating. People say oh drink milk or whatever but that simply doesn’t work well.
I don’t travel, or do anything. No passport, never been on a plane. Thailand is the one place I want to go, and eat my way from one end to the other.
Maybe sometime in the future when the US sucks less (hopefully). I’m too ashamed to be from here right now to travel abroad.
If that’s what’s holding you back, don’t worry. Thai people are very chill and kind on the whole. Also the economy is very dependent on tourism, so dealing with westerners is part of that. And, the US has not fucked Thailand over anywhere near as much as the surrounding countries (vietnam & cambodia, mostly, but even those folks are extremely gracious). People will appreciate you if you are kind, polite, and try to follow local customs.
That’s nice and I’ll keep it in mind. For now I’m avoiding airports in my own country.
You’ll find yourself explaining whats wrong with Trump more often than explaining that you don’t support America and Americans have exactly zero influence on its actions; when I was there last year, Vietnamese liked him because the only thing they knew about him was the tarriffs on China and the Chinese often thought MAGA just meant develop America, the way China developed itself.
I think something that complicates it is that spice tolerance increases as you eat more spicy things. Some people experience that 1 the same as others feel the 3 and vice versa.
If Thailand is as used to tourists as other comments have said, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they do something similar to western restaurants with spice: over exagerate how spicy everything is so that tough guys can ask for something that will make them look tough without risking the staff needing to deal with some of them crying about it being too spicy (and maybe also feeling like they need to prove their toughness some other way).
So it wouldn’t surprise me if the home cooking experience is more in line with what people would expect of Thai cuisine. And not because they want to blast their tastebuds and assholes, but because their tolerance is high from eating spicy food their whole lives and that’s how much they need to get to a “pleasantly hot” level.
That’s how I feel about spicy food in Texas. “Texas Spicy Chili” anywhere else in the US is going to be way hotter than what is generally found in Texas.
I usually think Texas anything just means a fuck ton of sugar has been added.