Why do countries with a high temperature include heat in their food?!


Question: Why do countries with a high temperature include heat in their food?
Indian food with the Curry, Mexican with the Cayenne, and other heat inducing flavors?
I'm not against it in any way, but just curious if the heat in the food brings on sweat which cools the body off in such hot climates, or is it just that there is an abundance of these ingredients around those parts?
Just wondering?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Spices and chili's not only add in the body's ability to digest and process the food but it aid in sweat production which cleanses the pores, they include alot of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, for a whole body experience, turmeric, chili's, fenugreek and cilantro all have healing properties, like we drink hot beverages in Canada in the cold to warm up, in some ways spicy foods helps your body cool down and regulate itself in hot weather also.



its because the heat from things such as chillies makes them sweat and the pours open this then evapourates cooling them down its strange but it works, and these grow naturally there to its part of their foods heratige. hope this helps



It helps them to sweat.



The biggest and simplest reason is probably because chiles grow well in those countries and have been growing there for at least several hundred years. The cuisine of a country typically is based around the ingredients that are available have been available for a long time, and grow well in those countries. While chile peppers can be grown as far north as Canada, it requires starting them indoors months ahead of time and growing them as an annual. In warm countries like Mexico and India, they grow year around and a plant can survive and produce fruit for several years. Same reason why coconuts are used more often in Indian cuisine than American, or why citrus fruits are used more in Mexican food than American, they grow well there and have been for a long time. Of course, this has changed somewhat with modern technology and food being shipped all over the world, but the chiles had already become ingrained in the cuisine at this point.

As far as Mexico goes, chiles are indigenous to the Americas and have been cultivated and eaten by people in that region since at least 7,500 BC, so it makes sense that they would play such a prominent role in Mexican food. Same reason why tomatoes and tomatillos are used so much in Mexican food. Cayenne isn't really a popular chile in Mexico though and isn't native to Mexico. Commonly used chiles in Mexican food are jalapeno, habanero, poblano (ancho when dried), guajillo, piquin (or pequin), chiltepin, chilaca (pasilla when dried), chile *****, de arbol, etc.

There are also theories about making people sweat, which cools them down in the hot climates as others have said, and theories about capsaicin (which group of chemicals which makes chiles spicy) being useful for preserving food which would otherwise spoil quickly in the hot, moist climates, as capsaicin has some antimicrobial activity.

However, I really believe the primary reason is simply because they have been grown there for a long time, they grow very well there, and people have been eating them for a long time and enjoy the heat.

I grow a wide variety of chiles from all over the world and love them




The consumer Foods information on foodaq.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007 FoodAQ - Terms of Use - Contact us - Privacy Policy

Food's Q&A Resources