As fun as it is to make fun of America, there are plenty of countries with way worse spice tolerance. You wouldn’t expect it, as the home of wasabi, but most Japanese people have the tolerance level of a white Midwestern grandma with severe acid reflux.
Wasabi and radishes and mustard have a different chemical mechanism from peppers for their spice. I had a friend who grew up in India, and has basically no regard for capsaicin, over for dinner one night. We had some radishes out of our garden, and some of them were definitely on the hot side so I warned her. She scoffed and bit off half a good sized radish. She was soon downing iced tea to wash it away and said, oh my god, is that what spicy food is like for you? But capsaicin is oil based and doesn’t wash away so easily.
Very true, the two types of “spiciness” are quite different (wasabi is basically a ten-second flavor blast, whereas capsaicin sticks with you and accumulates). It’s way more that just “mouth hot.”
I mean actual wasabi isn’t that “hot”, the majority of what is called wasabi, outside Japan is horseradish which is a lot “hotter”. Wasabi is also eaten in incredibly small amounts to season the food rather than provide a dominant flavour.
Traditional Japanese food has almost no heat at all, short hop to Korea though where they love very spicy food.
Absolutely, true wasabi has a much more delicate flavor, but it still packs way more of a punch than, say, even the spiciest Japanese curry. I was floored by how spicy Korean food was when I first tried it, especially by comparison with Japanese cuisine. Generally speaking, I don’t think Korean and Japanese food have much of an overlap, except maybe in ingredients used and the prevalence of rice- and noodle-based dishes.
As fun as it is to make fun of America, there are plenty of countries with way worse spice tolerance. You wouldn’t expect it, as the home of wasabi, but most Japanese people have the tolerance level of a white Midwestern grandma with severe acid reflux.
Wasabi and radishes and mustard have a different chemical mechanism from peppers for their spice. I had a friend who grew up in India, and has basically no regard for capsaicin, over for dinner one night. We had some radishes out of our garden, and some of them were definitely on the hot side so I warned her. She scoffed and bit off half a good sized radish. She was soon downing iced tea to wash it away and said, oh my god, is that what spicy food is like for you? But capsaicin is oil based and doesn’t wash away so easily.
Very true, the two types of “spiciness” are quite different (wasabi is basically a ten-second flavor blast, whereas capsaicin sticks with you and accumulates). It’s way more that just “mouth hot.”
I remember one night, we ordered takeout sushi and got a side of edamame, too.
I wasn’t paying attention and picked up what I thought was a bean that had fallen onto the sushi tray, and just ate it.
It was not a bean.
Mhm. Horse radish
I mean actual wasabi isn’t that “hot”, the majority of what is called wasabi, outside Japan is horseradish which is a lot “hotter”. Wasabi is also eaten in incredibly small amounts to season the food rather than provide a dominant flavour.
Traditional Japanese food has almost no heat at all, short hop to Korea though where they love very spicy food.
Absolutely, true wasabi has a much more delicate flavor, but it still packs way more of a punch than, say, even the spiciest Japanese curry. I was floored by how spicy Korean food was when I first tried it, especially by comparison with Japanese cuisine. Generally speaking, I don’t think Korean and Japanese food have much of an overlap, except maybe in ingredients used and the prevalence of rice- and noodle-based dishes.