Hot Damn!

Too Much Teeth loves spicy food. We can't get enough of the heat and even look down on our bland loving brothers. We don't just love spicy food, we sometimes need it. After a sweet or with our morning eggs, we find ourselves scouring our shelves for our zippy friends, "Crushed Red," "T-basc," or a homemade shaker of habanero that goes merely by "The Spicy."

There are others, ones for all occasions and pallets. Some days it is enough just to add a heap of black pepper (who knew you could be so hot you dirty bitch) or a baby chili. Other times, we demand the chef make our green curry "hot," to which the waiter raises a brow and says "that's spicy. You sure?" (Editors' note: TMT has witnessed and been part-victim to Spicy Sexism, the ludicrous belief that women cannot handle the heat. It's bullshit, a top human rights offense.)

We are sure we want it hot. We need it to be. That's not to say that we haven't occasionally overstepped our bounds, been relegated to bread-sucking and milk dousing. And then there's the tragic case of hot sauce fingers: Adam trying to pull open Maren's tear-filled, bloodshot eye, shut like a frightened clam and not giving. "It won't open!" (Editors' note: Wash hands before putting contacts in. Hot sauce can linger and cause extreme pain).

So why do it? Why, when the risk is great, do we continue to use? Maybe we're addicted.
Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, writes,
"When capsaicin – the chemical in spicy foods that makes them so hot, Hot, HOT – hits your tongue, your body registers the sensation as pain. This in turn triggers the release of endorphins, otherwise known as "happy" chemicals that give you an instant head-to-toe feeling of pleasure."

Don't worry, she goes on to reassure us that while this sounds similar to a drug addiction, it will probably not end up with us giving head for wasabi. "Experts say there's no harm in enjoying the burn and the ensuing rush of bliss."

Here's to the taste sensation that's sweeping the nation and the "rush of bliss." We say fire it up.