• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1566 months ago

    “Died of high chili consumption”? Is this actual English? Those words don’t seem to fit together that way. I feel like if this were a real thing, Thailand wouldn’t exist.

    • Drusas
      link
      fedilink
      906 months ago

      It seems like a more accurate title would be “died of high capsaicin consumption due to a heart defect”.

      • Transient Punk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        19
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Capsaicin is a crystalline structure. Pure capsaicin is 16 million scoville units, and is a crystal. I highly doubt there’s any food that anyone is eating that is 14 million scoville units per bite. That would require 87.5% of the food to be crystalline.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          216 months ago

          It’s a powder flavoring applied on top of a chip.

          People don’t eat huge chunks of salt any more than they are eating chunks of capsaicin.

          If we can salt chips, we can probably capsaicinize them too.

          • Transient Punk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            26 months ago

            You’re right, but scoville units are an absolute measurement of the concentration of capsaicin. In order to have something be 14 million scoville units it would have to be comprised of 87.5% capsaicin. 16 million scoville units is the measurement of pure capsaicin. It’s simple math.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          26 months ago

          If I’m not mistaken, pure capsaicin isn’t even that spicy, it only becomes spicy when dissolved in something like alcohol and then taken.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          23
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          Mexican food has nothing on Thai food when it comes to spice. I like spicy food, even Thai-spicy food, but I have only once made the mistake of asking them to make it as spicy as they could. I swear that little old lady was hiding a huge grin as she marched that order back to the kitchen. Then they only came out to refill my water once.

          It was fucking delicious, but I think I started to hallucinate.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            116 months ago

            I’ve heard that Thai restaurants have extra spicy recipes for non-Thai people trying to act tough by ordering the spiciest thing.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            96 months ago

            I knew Thai cuisine was hot, I guess the phrasing was confusing to me. That shit does get hot, along with some Indian dishes. There’s a couple of biryani places that have had me sweating like Michael Jackson at at 10th birthday party

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              36 months ago

              There’s no empirical evidence that MJ sexually abused any children. He was also acquitted. Why does this rumor persist? Because some guy who has changed his story multiple times decided after MJ died that he was abused, despite previous evidence that he wasn’t abused and that his parents tried to blackmail MJ?

              I mean it’s a little quip so you probably didn’t think much of it. But he suffered enough while alive, is it really necessary to continue to assassinate his character despite him being dead and acquitted?

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                46 months ago

                I held that line for decades. I honestly thought he had a super fucked up childhood and just turned into a weird manchild with fucked up boundaries. But in the last few years since his death I feel like the balance of evidence is weighing heavily against him. Of course he’s not around to defend himself any more, either. I’m done sticking up for him. Either way it’s a tragic tale.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            76 months ago

            It was fucking delicious, but I think I started to hallucinate.

            Kindred spirit, my friend.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            2
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            I wish they’d do that for me. I’m a pasty white guy who is a spice fiend. I fucking love spicy food, and I have some sauces I regularly use that have Scorpion Peppers, Carolina Reapers, and Ghost Peppers.

            Thai food is great, but when I go to thai restaraunts, they see me order the spicy option, I swear to god they give me a quarter of the spice that they’d give someone who doesn’t boil in sunlight.

          • Flying Squid
            link
            fedilink
            26 months ago

            Ever had Tibetan food? Living in the Himalayas makes you pretty expert at spicy. Apparently they reduce the spiciness for Westerners. They didn’t reduce it enough.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              26 months ago

              Never tried it, but I’ll see if I can find any. Honestly never heard of it being a thing even in a college town, but I’ll look around Detroit.

              • Flying Squid
                link
                fedilink
                36 months ago

                I actually tried it first in a college town- Bloomington, Indiana. It has a Tibetan community because the brother of the Dalai Lama lived there (he’s dead now) along with his family and others came too because it’s a pretty friendly town for a large number of Buddhists to move to since it’s pretty hippie-friendly as it is.

                That said, they sold the original Tibetan restaurant and the menu has been revised to the American palate. Originally, the hottest version of Thukpa Ngopa (a fried noodles with beef recipe) was something else. There was also another restaurant owned by a Tibetan immigrant that didn’t have any Tibetan food, but it had a Tibetan-style dish called Himalayan Potatoes that would make you cry like a baby.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      166 months ago

      How hot Thai food is, is somewhat overblown. It’s the hottest regularly served food in the world, but it’s not hotter than some people enjoy. Their “spicy” comes from red and green chili’s, ginger, peppercorn, and garlic. By far, the hottest of that group is the red chili’s, but those are around 200,000 scoville. I can eat those and not break a sweat.

      The one chip challenge was a lot hotter than any Thai food. Hotter than any of the other challenge or worlds hottest “x” that I’ve tried (friends and stuff gift me these types of things a lot). I’ve bought a lot of sauces that are hotter than it, and it still didn’t have me wishing for something to drink. My mouth just doesn’t react to capsaicin as much as the average persons.

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech
      link
      fedilink
      15
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      There is another country that would not exist if high Chile consumption was a real thing.

      This is real title gore, the sentence structure barely makes sense too. Unwinding the journalistic word order and even correcting for the missing word “report” and the chilli misspelling, it basically says

      Autopsy was conducted on a teen who had a tortilla, and it[s report] says: “He died of high chil[li] consumption and had a heart defect.”

      The logic is technically correct but the following bizzare statements are suggested (not implied):

      • If you are a teen and eat a tortilla, a doctor may decide you need an autopsy. Prevention first, amirite?
      • The cause of death of the teen in question was high chilli consumption, which caused a heart defect, and subsequently the autopsy, either of which alone would be enough to kill him.
      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        4
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        So bad it’s good. Personally, I like the description text on the video that makes it seem like the teen who was autopsied is speaking:

        An autopsy of a Massachusetts teen who died after participating in a spicy tortilla chip challenge says he died from eating a lot of chile pepper extract, and 14-old Harris Wolobah had a congenital heart defect.

        Editorially, it’s a hilarious article. Though, respect to journalists out there. This might be a situation of, “Johnson, I need that tortilla chip death article on my desk in 5 minutes”.

        edit: Per the correction in the article, I guess AP style guidelines dictate ‘chile’ instead of ‘chili’. It looks super weird to me!

  • gregorum
    link
    fedilink
    English
    81
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    So he died of a heart defect, exacerbated by high capsaicin intake.

    • ditty
      link
      fedilink
      English
      166 months ago

      Thank you for fixing the headline! 👍

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    696 months ago

    As a chili pepper lover myself I absolutely do not get this garbage trope of treating chili pepper consumption as some kind of contest. The idea is to add heat to your food - not prove your pathetic “manliness.”

    In my opinion, anything above Habanero is just pointless masochism for no good reason at all.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      196 months ago

      In my opinion, anything above Habanero is just pointless masochism for no good reason at all.

      Idk man I agree otherwise, but tolerances rise. And different chilis taste different. Habanero has a nice, sweet taste, and naga yolokia has a bit sharper taste.

      So it very much depends.

      I don’t try to make “hot” food, but wanting a bit of heat in every meal has lead to my tolerances rising and Habanero just not cutting it for proper heat. (I think the heat is good when you almost feel it in your nipples.)

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          126 months ago

          When the food is so spicy that at first you start sweating a bit on your face and then the heat slowly spreads from your face. So at the point when it’s enough to reach your nipples, the spiciness of the dish is just right.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              66 months ago

              Oh this goal is something I decided after having experienced it.

              Don’t know if there’s logic to it, but it’s what I usually aim for. (Unless I’m busy the next day, because that usually requires an extended session on the porcelain throne the following day.)

    • businessfish
      link
      fedilink
      English
      106 months ago

      idk sometimes it’s just fun to eat something really hot, especially with friends

      my dad and i did the 1 chip thing a few years back and we got a fun time and a funnier video out of it. not much more to it really

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      86 months ago

      I think ghost peppers have fun uses and the Carolina reaper almonds from diamond are actually delicious and not that spicy (guessing they use very little). I agree that the mega potent stuff is better used for spicing up a 3 lb pot of chili.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        46 months ago

        Wendy’s uses a lil tiny bit of ghost pepper in their ghost pepper ranch sauce and it’s actually a great flavor with some kick. Absolutely nowhere near as spicy as the actual pepper, of course. I’d put it maybe slightly above jalapeño?

    • Transient Punk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      56 months ago

      I can eat a habanero without noticing the spice. Should I just stop trying to enjoy spicy food?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      36 months ago

      Eh. Habanero tastes like ass. I’ve had spicier peppers with better flavor. And plenty of people, including myself, occasionally enjoy something hotter. I have a decent tolerance for spice, so I can dial things up and still enjoy it.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        26 months ago

        Habanero tastes like ass.

        Most of the ones I’ve had were pretty crap… but, rarely, it’s actually possible to find Habanero that tastes the way Habanero should. They’re pretty good.

        Next time I find proper ones, I’m planting them.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          26 months ago

          Well that’s true, you can get a lot of varieties of peppers.

          Can’t believe that comment garnered so many down votes tho. Some habanero lovers in the comments were very upset

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          16 months ago

          You may not get the same traits as the parent plant, that you’re looking for, if you grow chillies from seed

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      26 months ago

      You clearly never had Beef Rendang. It is a Indonesian/Malay dish, which is a lot like a coconut curry. It is unbelievably spicy purely looking at it and you start to sweat. But it tastes amazing and I firmly believe it wouldn’t taste the same without that level of heat. It is an incredibly intense experience and I guess literally not for those weak of heart. But if you ever get the chance I highly suggest you at least taste it is unbelievably tasty.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      16 months ago

      “As a chili pepper lover myself I absolutely do not get this garbage trope of treating chili pepper consumption as some kind of contest. The idea is to add heat to your food - not prove your pathetic “manliness.””

      I agree and so does Aunty Donna:

      Warning, this content contains some Australian language

      https://youtu.be/oTjbwg48JuE?si=X4ujFAsv8oelEGmO&t=47

  • mozingo
    link
    fedilink
    English
    536 months ago

    As someone who regularly eats 1million+ Scoville chilies and sauces, these chips ain’t nothing to fuck with. It gave me the absolute worst stomach pains I’ve ever had, it was like the flu but worse. There’s gotta be something in those chips that at a level that’s not normal for peppers.

    • Transient Punk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      14
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I’ve been getting those stomach pains lately trying to pursue the amount of heat I like in my food. I finally decided I just needed to take a break from spicy food to reset my tolerance.

      Though, I was watching the series Superhot, and it seems that the stomach pains are pretty commonly associated with eating a lot of those types of super hot foods. So, I’m guessing it’s just from the sheer amount of capsaicin on those chips. It’s pretty much just capsaicin extract at that point.

      • mozingo
        link
        fedilink
        English
        76 months ago

        Maybe, but I eat a lot of stuff that are mostly pure capsaicin and none of them mess up my stomach like that. And with this chip the heat in my mouth wasn’t as bad, but my stomach pain was much worse. That makes me think something else is responsible.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      56 months ago

      What? Maybe they have inconsistent batches, but I did it with friends and it was fine. Hot, obviously, but nothing that crazy. I was pressured into it and didn’t play to win, so I went straight for bread and juice for a bit and it was fine. Two of my competitive friends were chilling, the spice went away after a few minutes for them, to the point that the challenge of seeing who can go longest without drinking anything was not even about the heat, but just who could go the longest without drinking in general/who got thirsty the normal way first

      • mozingo
        link
        fedilink
        English
        56 months ago

        I wouldn’t be surprised. To be clear though, the heat I felt in my mouth and face wasn’t really all that much. Just north of a habanero maybe. It was pretty much the damage it did to my insides that got me.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          26 months ago

          That’s fair, that was their experience too actually now that I think about it. Maybe all the bread I ate neutralized it, cause I had no issues after the heat passed

  • Blaster M
    link
    fedilink
    English
    386 months ago

    High chile consumption

    So, don’t eat an entire country. Got it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    296 months ago

    I don’t get why anyone likes eating super spicy foods. After a certain level of heat there is no more flavor, just spice, and it clearly can cause serious problems for your body. What is the draw?

    • blargerer
      link
      fedilink
      246 months ago

      It being dangerous is extremely rare, and the extreme heat can give a pretty big endorphin rush.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      156 months ago

      As someone who loves super spicy foods:

      Heat doesn’t alter flavor. Capsaicin itself is flavorless, so if you just take a food and add capsaicin extract, it’ll increase the heat without changing flavor.

      However, IMO there’s no point in doing that unless you’re trying to win a challenge. Most of us get capsaicin from peppers, and each pepper has a unique flavor that can add a lot of nuance to a dish.

      Plus, I enjoy the heat sensation and am highly tolerant, so I can eat high heat foods and enjoy them. I would not recommend a spice-naive person start out on super hots.

    • Transient Punk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      156 months ago

      You build a tolerance to the heat as you eat more and more spicy food.

      After a certain level of heat there is no more flavor, just spice…

      Again, your tolerance is what dictates the accuracy of this statement. I think Paqui chips taste terrible, the spice level has nothing to do with it. But, as the other commenter mentioned, you pursue this level of heat because you enjoy the rush it gives you. If you can handle the spice of super hot foods, you either need a ton of peppers (which just makes your good taste like peppers), or you need something insanely hot to add, so you can maintain the food’s good flavor, while also having a satisfying level of heat.

      The draw is the rush.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      96 months ago

      Because you get used to it and what was super hot a few months ago is just a little tingly today. So over time you eat hotter and hotter stuff.

    • Ioughttamow
      link
      fedilink
      7
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I ate the hottest level they had at Quaker steak and lube one time. I was laughing and crying at the same time while bouncing around in my seat. It had a bit of an endorphin rush, but also hurt heh Edit: got my free shirt though! Still have it I think. All about the swag baby

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      56 months ago

      I love spicy food, but as you said, only to a degree. The “spicy” part of the equation consists of both taste and the influence on your mouth’s temperature sensors. If the latter is hyperactive due to capsacain flavor goes out the window, at which point the food is no longer palatable to me.

    • Tiefling IRL
      link
      fedilink
      5
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I love super spicy sauces because I can add a few drops to food to make it spicy without altering the flavor. I used to eat super spicy for the fun of it but my stomach hates me now, so I’ve had to tone back.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        26 months ago

        Hey, dont leave out attention whores! Hurting yourself so your audience can laugh is ANOTHER reason some of us got into spicy food!

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            26 months ago

            I mean, at the end if the day, any damage I do to myself is minor. Dont worry, I’ve had 30 years to fine tune my obsession with attention so that its not harmful to myself or others. Also, I live in a metropolis, I cant afford pet rent xD

    • rudyharrelson
      link
      fedilink
      36 months ago

      I just find it fun. And super hot sauces don’t have to be devoid of flavor. There’s truly a lot of options when it comes to hot sauces. I have a rack specifically for super hot sauce bottles, lol.

      My wife got me these really nice pepper flake blends from Flatiron for the holidays a few years ago and it was a fantastic gift. It included 5 different blends ranging from about 10,000 Scoville to about… 750,000K. It’s painful. Straight up. I can’t say it isn’t an unpleasant sensation. It’s just fun. Like I’ll be chuckling to myself while wheezing from the overwhelming heat.

      There’s a Carolina Reaper version of Blue Almond almonds that I love. Super spicy. And low carb. Unfortunately I think they discontinued them because there isn’t a huge market for superhot enjoyers.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        The Trinidad Scorpion pepper is hot, but has an EXTREMELY delicious fruity flavor that I haven’t had from any other pepper.

        Carolina reapers just taste/smell like gasoline.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          16 months ago

          There’s a hot sauce I regularly get that’s scorpion pepper and prickly pear and it’s amazing. Fruity to the point of being almost bubble gum sweet at first and then the heat hits.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            26 months ago

            I’ve got one called “La Jefa” from SauceBoss that has it, nice earthy and hot flavor with that nice fruityness

            Also got one called “Djabla Filipino hot sauce”, also very tasty

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    146 months ago

    Large doses of capsaicin can increase how the heart squeezes, putting extra pressure on the artery, noted Dr. Syed Haider, a cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

    Is it the nerves or the muscles of the heart that have this reaction to capsaicin? And does it only target the heart?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      126 months ago

      I don’t think it’s a direct reaction. I think it’s much more likely that capsaicin induces stress and that messes with the heart.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      86 months ago

      One lesson to take is don’t take viral infections lightly. Don’t exercise while recovering from a cold, covid, or the flu. Viral infections can weaken your heart temporarily and exercising in that state can damage your heart.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          16 months ago

          Yeah, that’s what I’m saying: if you want to reduce the risk of just dropping dead, make sure you properly recover from viral infections, which are a major reason of that happening.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        4
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        If you mean Chili write Chili or Chilli, Chile is a country. Also why did AP feel they needed to change it, when the other spellings are equally correct, and more common.
        That’s moronic.

        Chile as a spice is also near impossible to search for, you will get exclusively results that are spelled chilli or chili. So why opt for a spelling that in every way is worse?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          26 months ago

          From early contact in Central America between Spanish explorers and Aztec folk, local spicy peppers — primarily the jalapeño type — were noted as “chiles”. Other similar fruits were also tagged as “chiles” — a term which had the indigenous sense “hot-to-the-taste.”

          ‘Chile’ has been used for a lot longer than ‘chili’. If anyone is spelling it wrong, it is you, not them.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          16 months ago

          Look up red or green Chile, it will show up in any search,and in new Mexico you will get slapped for spelling it chili because chili is Texas beans and meat not the flavorful Chile grown in the region

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    10
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    I am an adult, and I do like spicy food, but I’d like to throw in that this chip is fine. It’s spicy, but not crazy. It was hot for a few minutes and then not hot.

    I’m more surprised that the article affirms that large amounts of capsaicin can be physically damaging in some way. I’ve never heard of that before.

    • UnfortunateShort
      link
      fedilink
      2
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I know of at least two currywurst places in Germany where they offer crazy hot sauces. The more intense ones are 18+ and I think at least one of the places makes you sign that you won’t sue them understand the risk of eating food that spicy.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        16 months ago

        There’s an ice cream store in Rehoboth, DE that makes you sign a waiver before eating their ghost pepper ice cream. (It was hot but not sign a waiver hot).

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        16 months ago

        Wow, apparently I do not understand the risks. I actually looked it up after I really started eating spicy food almost everyday and I understood capsaicin to excite nerves but not cause any physical damage.

        I am going to have to look that up again I guess.

        I think the only thing I came across was it being good for your GI tract somehow, like being good for stopping ulcers.