Orthogonal Thought | Random musings from the creator of Cooking For Engineers and Lead Architect of Fanpop

AUTHORS

CATEGORIES

ARCHIVE

Addictive Spiciness

Posted 24 April, 2007 at 10:06pm by Michael Chu
(Filed under: Food)

In Chinese, there is a word for a particular type of spiciness. That word is "ma" (as in "ma la"). It literally means numb. ("Ma la" is numbing spiciness.) Sometimes, the food is so spicy that it numbs your mouth, and when your mouth ceases to be numb and can feel again, it burns. It burns sooo bad. The only thing that can be done at that point is to eat more of the spicy food to numb the mouth. Sweat starts to bead on the forehead, the tummy feels warm (borderline between uncomfortable and extremely comfortable), and a rush fills your head — you want more. Always more.

All content published by CFE Enterprises, Inc. under license with copyright holders.

NAVIGATION

MY WEB

SEARCH