Chile Pepper Training Program
It is one of those ironies of life that a guy who produces hot sauces (me) has three kids and none of them like spicy food. Now I am willing to let my 1 year old off the hook at least until she turns two. I see the potential in my seven year old girl, but she will need some training. My four year old boy is an interesting case. He is a kid who thinks that he likes spicy food, but doesn't actually eat it. I tested this observation a couple months ago at the store. My son insisted that he likes spicy food and wanted to buy a jalapeno. Not only did he want to buy it, but wanted to eat it at the store. After strongly cautioning him, I thought that might be a learning opportunity. His first bite came right back out and was paired with a pained expression.
Now one might think that he learned his lesson and that he is not ready for spicy food yet, but no. Yesterday at Trader Joe's my son insisted that he likes spicy food (sounds familiar) and that he had to have the spicy sushi. I thought that this must be another learning opportunity and bought it. Now before anyone calls Child Protective Services, read on. At home my son started eating one piece and immediately requested a drink. I noticed that he ate the rice around the outside, but not the spicy middle. I asked if he liked the sushi and he said that he did. A minute later he had eaten the middle of the first piece of sushi. Two minutes later he had eaten two complete pieces. Two minutes after that he had eaten the whole pack of sushi. My son is now a graduate. He has been initiated and will be welcomed to the junior core of Chileheads.
Does anyone out there have a recommended training regimen for bringing youngsters into the chile pepper world? I have always advocated incrementalism. Give them barley spicy, then slightly spicy, then kinda of spicy, then moderately spicy, etc. All of this would be over a few months or years. What I did find out from my son is that incrementalism is not nearly as entertaining and kids really vary and are often hard to predict.
Now one might think that he learned his lesson and that he is not ready for spicy food yet, but no. Yesterday at Trader Joe's my son insisted that he likes spicy food (sounds familiar) and that he had to have the spicy sushi. I thought that this must be another learning opportunity and bought it. Now before anyone calls Child Protective Services, read on. At home my son started eating one piece and immediately requested a drink. I noticed that he ate the rice around the outside, but not the spicy middle. I asked if he liked the sushi and he said that he did. A minute later he had eaten the middle of the first piece of sushi. Two minutes later he had eaten two complete pieces. Two minutes after that he had eaten the whole pack of sushi. My son is now a graduate. He has been initiated and will be welcomed to the junior core of Chileheads.
Does anyone out there have a recommended training regimen for bringing youngsters into the chile pepper world? I have always advocated incrementalism. Give them barley spicy, then slightly spicy, then kinda of spicy, then moderately spicy, etc. All of this would be over a few months or years. What I did find out from my son is that incrementalism is not nearly as entertaining and kids really vary and are often hard to predict.
posted by Dave at
2:23 PM
2 Comments:
My youngest son was initiated when he insisted on tasting my omelet that was doused with a liberal splash of Baboon Ass Brand Habanero Sauce. He now like spicy foods, my older son is not interested in partaking!
My girlfriend never liked anything spicy, which is sad since I try to make everything I cook have some heat to it. She took a taste of some 'warm sauce' that I made and immediately guzzled nearly a quart of milk. She kept coming back for it though and over the course of about a month she went from eating mild salsa to loving Hot salsa with a couple drops of your Ultimate Insanity Sauce. Although she still couldn't handle too much of it, she liked the burn and the resulting tingle.
So I guess that incremental increases are good, but a bit of shock therapy never hurts either. Although having something on hand to quell the burn if it is too much is a good idea as well.
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