The Love of my Life

It is said that a person has a limited number of great loves in their life. One of the great loves of my life is spicy food. Spicy food is such a broad category, but I love it all. The most fascinating thing to me about spicy food is that it occurs in all cultures in different forms. From the three-bite curry found in India, to five spice Thai cooking, even to something as simple as Tabasco sauce, spicy food crosses the boundaries of cultures and makes its way onto our tastebuds and into our watering eyes.

Tabasco sauce was where it all started with me. My dad and I would go to Jim's Coffehouse for breakfast. Over the classic eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns breakfast, he would teach me how to draw hyperbolic curves on napkins while breakfast bathed in the classic green pepper sauce. I learned it from him, but I later fed my hunger for spice on my own. I soon began to branch out to peppers, eating them whole or putting slices of jalepenos in my burrito for lunch. When I discovered my love for sushi, the blessing that is wasabi came right along with it.

The challenge that spicy food brings is an invigorating one; trying to hold back the tears that it brings but refusing to reach for that glass of milk. It brings people together, in a sort of fun-loving suffering kind of way. Many people have an "I'll try if you do" kind of attitude when it comes to tasting spicy foods, and many times it results in the classic moment of laughing and crying simultaneously. The beauty of the spice is that it makes food more fun, and there's always a spice for everyone! Wing Dome is a great way to enjoy the diversity of spice, with it's 1-alarm to 7-alarm variety of hot wings.

Spicy food has been a love of mine in all kinds of different forms, that cross cultural boundaries. I hope that someday I can eat my way around the world of spicy food. With a glass of milk at the ready, I know I'll meet my match.