Fruits from the Capsicum pepper plant are indigenous to the Americas. The flavor they can add to dishes is so appreciated that the ingredient quickly spread across the globe to become a culinary staple in just a few hundred years.
Chili peppers—originally cultivated for millennia from what is now the southeastern United States to South America—are now an important component in cuisines from every inhabited continent.
I love the flavor chilies can add, but I'm extremely sensitive to spice levels. It's one of the less fun parts of autism—heightened or atypical reactions to tastes or smells.
My family loves flavorful, spicy foods—not the kind that's eaten strictly as a flex about pain tolerance—while I like the flavor of the mildest versions. The cuisines of the Americas, India, and Thailand are particular favorites.
However, mildly spicy for my Sisters is excruciatingly painful for me. So an unexpected bit of spice in a dish can ruin a meal for me.
Reddit user sheerduckinghubris asked:
"What would completely ruin a good meal for you?"
Awful Offal
"The time I tried menudo*. I knew it had tripe. I guess I didn't understand tripe."
"So I'm deep in this steaming bowl of menudo and absolutely loving it, right? Then I get to the chunk of tripe. Looks strange but I'll try anything once, right?"
"Only once."
"Carnation instant bile is what it tasted like, right in the middle of all that delicious goodness."
"I actually cried. It was the ultimate betrayal."
~ Zealousideal-Cow4114
"That's why God invented pozole°."
~ PlayedUOonBaja
* Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made with cow's stomach (tripe), hominy, and a red chili pepper base.
° Pozole is a hearty Mexican soup or stew made with hominy and meat and seasoned with dried oregano and chiles.
Mucous Music
"Someone blowing their nose while I'm eating, grosses me the f*ck out."
~ MrsCreative_Bag_5164
"Someone hawking up a phlegm nearby. Gross."
~ Expert_Marsupial_235
Something Fishy
"Finding a small bone in anything."
"For the rest of the meal, I'll be making an excessive number of delicate bites trying to find more bones."
~ Arch3m
Too Hungry To Eat
"One of those hunger pangs that makes you nauseous and kills your appetite."
~ wakeuplazyy
"God, yes, like what is the purpose of that‽‽"
"You're hungry, I'm trying to feed you, WHY are you stopping me from feeding you? It makes no f*cking sense!"
~ RottenPeachSmell
Temperature Blunder
"If it’s cold and isn’t supposed to be."
~ hockenduke
"So true. Even more when you bite into it and the outside is warm but the inside is still cold and the texture is all different because of it."
~ 7sky7walker7
Unknown Allergies
"In my case... a scallop."
"For some reason, I can tolerate any kind of seafood, any kind of shellfish..."
"But if I have even a tiny piece of scallop, the entire meal is going to be coming out of both sides for the rest of the evening."
"Weirdest thing is it only started happening when I was around 12, I could eat em just fine before that."
"Made for some fun surprises while it was still unclear that it was causing me such issues as I always had them as part of a seafood platter and you never know if it was in there or not if you are in a restaurant."
"Took a lot of figuring out and repeatedly getting sick."
~ TheDeadlyPretzel
Secondhand 🚬
"Somebody smoking around me. Hate that sh*t, just ruins my food."
"I had a tough time with this in Japan, especially Osaka. Delicious food, but smoking was very widespread, even indoors."
"I’m also pregnant, which I’m pretty sure has heightened my sense of smell."
~ emshlaf
"My whole family smoked inside. I smelled like an ashtray all the way up until i was 16. I had no idea what most things tasted like until I wasn't around cigarette smoke all the time."
~ fyrgoos15
Beauty Standards
"Guilt about overeating or thinking about my weight."
~ lunalaughss
"With you. Three bites in I’m deciding if it’s worse to stop and waste food (or ask for a to-go box) vs the horrible feeling of regret by the end of the meal if I keep eating."
"I’m learning to let go, but it’s a journey for sure. Give yourself space, grace, and patience."
~ flitterbug78
"This is the one. F*ck eating disorders."
"Hope you're doing okay."
~ gilt-raven
Lipsmacking Lunacy
"Eating with someone that chews with their mouth open and smacks with every bite."
~ Koda-Flame
"Instantly ruined. I’ll still eat, but be distracted and annoyed the entire time."
~ fyrgoos15
"I have to leave the room."
"Misophonia* is a b*tch."
~ HsvDE86
* Misophonia is an involuntary strong reaction to specific sounds. People with misophonia can become excessively irritated, enraged, or even panicked when they hear their trigger sounds.
Hair Scare
"Big old hair in the middle of the food."
~ alysiabat7
"Got a salad one day in my high school cafeteria, ate like 3/4 of it, and all the sudden felt a hair stuck in my teeth."
"Grabbed it, started pulling... and pulling. Felt it scrape my throat on the way out."
"F*cker was at least 18 inches. Keep in mind I'm a guy with a buzz cut, so it wasn't mine."
"Carried it up to the cafeteria lady to inform her and she asked, 'Would you like a different salad?' No, ma'am, I don't much want to eat anything ever again at the moment, thanks."
~ needsZAZZ665
Unexpected Protein
"Realizing halfway through that there’s something crawling on your plate. Nothing ruins a good meal faster than unexpected 'protein'."
~ babyyerinae
"Reminds me of 'what’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm'."
~ Vanishingf0x
"If you didn’t notice the first half, you’re probably not gonna notice the second."
~ Grimstaffe
"I hate bagged salads for this reason. My wife used to give me sh*t about obsessively inspecting it, until I turned up a 1/2” slug on the back of some lettuce."
"We don’t buy bagged salads anymore."
~ draconiclyyours
Added Crunch
"My sixth grade science teacher told me how he was cutting cherry tomatoes and the first one he cut exploded in baby spiders. I couldn't eat them for years after that."
~ btwomfgstfu
"I had to stop eating these little tiny baby grapes—I guess they were champagne grapes but marketed as sweeter and for kids—because in one, I found several web sacs. I opened one, and there was a little spider in it."
"It seemed dead, but after a few minutes it came to life! I still don’t quite understand wtf that was or what I saw, but that b*tch was moving. I don't know man, but I stopped buying them after that."
~ MyDogisaQT
The Company You Keep
"Bad company."
~ xxsassytemptress
"And good company makes the food taste better!"
~ Pitiful_Winner2669
Toothsome
"Tooth in my pizza."
"I got like 5 bucks—from the Tooth Fairy—because it was my tooth."
~ Wilfveelveel
"I lost a baby tooth biting into my turkey sandwich. The fear and disgust that ran through my body was almost tangible when I heard/felt that crunch then saw it was a tooth."
"But then I realized it was my own tooth, so the fear and disgust turned to excitement over the money I was about to get."
~ VultureJan
Texture Terrors
"Biting into a texture that is not supposed to be there."
~ VultureJan
"Piece of cartilage in my beef patty."
~ the_leaf_muncher
"Piece of cartilage in my veggie patty would be objectively worse..."
~ avmist15951
What ruins a meal for you?
@jessicachastain/Instagram
