CHAT: Temperature /Food and Drink

>Well, this is actually not a concultural, but a real tactic to fight heat.
It
>can be summed up as: When it's hot, eat hot!
It's true!!
(snipalot)
>and the barman prepared him a strange red drink, probably
>based on tomatoes, but the spiciest thing my friend ever absorbed
Sounds like a Bloody Mary, which gets its hot from Worcestershire sauce and
Tabasco....to taste.... I think the pepper reacts with the acid in the
tomato juice and becomes even hotter.

(and to tell
>you how much my boyfriend can stand hot food, he is the kind of people who
can
>chew a bunch of Chili pepers and say: "Yum! sweet!" ;)))) ).
I've seen Indonesians wolfing down hot peppers, sprinkled with lime juice
which they claim increases the heat.
It's possible that volatiles in Capsicum peppers do something.  Or perhaps
the pain in the mouth makes one ignore the discomfort of ambient heat and
humidity.
>
>I myself checked on a smaller level the truth of this technics after eating
>dinner in an Indonesian restaurant (the cook had made a little mistake,
adding
>a bit too much spice - I'd say, half a can ;))) - in a part of our "mild"
>dinner :))) ).
>
Oddly, despite its reputation and with one or two exceptions, I found
Indonesian (Javanese) cuisine quite bland.  The secret of course is
_sambal_, mashed up hot red chilies, served on the side and added to taste.
(As someone once said of peasant fare, which is basically rice with rice on
the side, "It helps you choke down all that rice".)

Of course it's possible our cook just wasn't very good.  Even the Indonesian
students staying at the guest-house complained about the food.  I dropped 20
lbs./~10kg.  in 2 months........

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