Spices make me happy

Having grown up in a family with almost everyone having gall bladder issues and not accustomed to spices, I had never been exposed to much variety of flavors. It always took me a long time to get used to new foods: I refused to eat any kind of sea creature for the longest time, and now, I eat sushi a couple of times a week; I had a strange aversion to olives for years, now I buy specialty olives stuffed with all kinds of yummy things like peppers and garlic; and then there is spicy stuff.

Just a few years ago, the thought of going to an Indian restaurant scared me. I always ordered my wings mild and stayed far away from dishes with the little red chili sign next to them on menus. Then, once during an outing to the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem, I was challenged to eat a suicide wing for $10. Being a poor grad student and someone who hates to lose, I ate it. And survived. It wasn't even that bad. That really helped a lot to get over my fear of spices.

Then, I moved in with my current roommate, who is from the South of India. She doesn't cook a whole lot, but a few times I have had the pleasure of sharing one of her meals with her. Slowly, I realized that spicy food awesome! I am no longer afraid of the chili sign and would rather eat something slightly spicy than something plain in a restaurant.

On Saturday evening,I got home to my roommate and her fiance cooking something that smelled distinctly Indian. They invited me to have dinner with them. They seemed a little worried about how I would deal with the chicken dish that turned out extra spicy, but there was lots of yogurt and a nice sweet mango sauce to calm the taste buds. I ended up eating 2 whole roti's (Indian flat-bread that's used to pick up food with, as there are no utensils, basically, you use your fingers and the bread to eat) filled with delicious chicken and veggies and mango sauce; my friends were rather impressed. I was too. There was some tingling in my mouth and my nose was running but wow, it cleared my sinuses like no menthol can, and I was feeling distinctly happier than I had all day. It turns out, that capsaicin, found in chili peppers, which causes the spicy sensation, causes the release of endorphins, not unlike what happens during running. The body is tricked into "being hurt", so mechanisms to reduce the pain kick in: namely, endorphins. Pain subsides, and a happy euphoric sensation takes over. This is what runners describe as "runner's high" and the reason why lovers of spicy food can't get enough of chilis.

Now I understand what was going on when I got home one day only to find my roommate standing in the middle of our kitchen with a bowl in her hand, crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, sobbing quietly, "Nothing, I am so happy!". She was just eating a dish loaded with capsaicin, her eyes watering and nose running as endorphins were rushing through her veins.