Have you ever wondered why some cuisines, like Indian and Thai, are so spicy and others, like English, are so bland?

India and Thailand are very hot countries, while England is cold and damp. The answer does have something to do with the climate associated with each cuisine, but maybe not in the way that you'd first think.

You might wonder why would you want to eat spicy food when it's hot outside in the first place. Does it cool you off by making you sweat more? While that's an interesting theory, there are a few better explanations. 

The first one is that spices mask spoilage, and in a country with a hot climate and without refrigeration, that can come in handy.

For the second theory, some scientists suggest that the spices in hot cuisines help protect humans from certain kinds of bacteria found in food. In fact, the hotter the country, the more likely it is that its recipes will use the kind of spices that slow down the growth of bacteria.

For example, onion, garlic, oregano, and allspice alone all kill or inhibit up to twenty-nine different kinds food-borne bacteria. In fact, most spices inhibit bacteria to some extent. And if you think about it, this makes sense. As plants evolved, they had to learn to fight off parasites and bacteria in order to survive. That's how they got their distinctive flavoring in the first place.

All this talk about food is making me hungry.

Read more

Source

• Why Files - The Spice of Life