Which Country Has the Best Spicy Food?
With our 2023 Hot and Spicy Festival only three weeks away (Apr 14-16), we just can’t stop thinking about all things spicy in anticipation. It's almost time to set our tongues aflame and try some of the most delicious spicy treats hailing from countries all across the globe at the capital’s hottest festival of the year.
All this spicy talk, though, has led us to wonder: just which country has the best spicy food? An age-old question for spicy food lovers all over the world, it’s certainly a hot (pun intended) topic. There are some immediate contenders that come to mind - think Mexico, India, Thailand or even our very own China - but what about lesser known countries or less typical cuisines?
Well, to start things off we put the question to members of our Beijing Spicy Food Lovers group to see what they had to say, and they gave us some rather interesting, or in some cases debatable, results:
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- China
- England
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Jamaica
- Korea
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Nepal
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Portugal
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Trinidad
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- USA
- Vietnam
They managed to nominate a whopping 28 countries with great spicy food, though as a Brit I’m a little dubious about the inclusion of England on there -- it's true we have some good Indian-UK curries like chicken tikka masala, but spicy they are not.
However, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and if you think there are other countries we haven't mentioned be sure to leave them as a comment! Once we’ve compiled a more complete list of countries, we’ll then be turning them over to you to vote for which country you think has the best spicy food, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
Now, back to our Hot and Spicy Festival -- just when might you be able to snatch up tickets for the Beijinger’s first festival of the year I hear you ask? Well, the wait is almost over so get your cash ready as tickets will go on sale next Monday the 27th! Make sure to check our WeChat then so you can nab yourself some tickets pronto.
If you also want to keep up to date with all things spicy, are a lover of spicy food or are perhaps astounded that your number one country for spicy food didn’t make the list and want to rectify matters, you can join our Beijing Spicy Food Lovers WeChat group! Just scan the QR code below to add TBJButler and ask to be invited (we have English and Chinese language groups, so be sure to specify).
READ: Save the Date! Hot and Spicy Festival 2023 is Heating Things Up Apr 14-16
Images: Canva, Giphy, The Beijingers
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Submitted by Guest on Tue, 04/11/2023 - 20:30 Permalink
Re: Which Country Has the Best Spicy Food?
You'll note that we are asking people for their opinion about their favorite spicy cuisine -- we haven't asked people to name the world's spiciest cuisine.
It's very possible that for some people, particularly pasty British Brummies who have rarely explored world cuisines and have sensitive palates, a nice Balti (invented in Birmingham) is their favorite spicy food ... or maybe for some of these folks their favorite dish is a spicy horseradish spread on a Sunday roast. Whatever, England didn't crack the Top 30 in the poll anyhow
It's also interesting to think: How long before something is truly recognized as part of a national cuisine? Fish and Chips dates back to the 1860s and was originally also an immigrant cuisine, but we would all recognize is as British. Same with burgers in the US, which have an even shorter history in America.
What English food is "hot"? Transplanting vindaloo from India don't make it "English." Inclusivity stops at the palate.
Hmm. Tell that to the Indians, Koreans, Thai and Chinese, whose traditional foods never contained chili peppers until they were imported into their cultures in the 1600s via Portguese traders who brought it from the Americas.
So I guess we should categorize them all as varieties of Native American cuisine
My point is that food that is purveyed from"ethnic restaurants" in a country is, for that reason, not representative of the host country's cuisine. It takes a good long while for foods to be naturalized. Truly spicy food has not become anything like a part of mainstream cuisine in any European culture. Hot peppers transformed a broad swathe of Asian cookery. In Europe, it remains a niche item. Hell, look at Hungary. They mainstreamed peppers, but at a price. The noble hot pepper has been effectively emasculated into paprika. I love Hungarian food. "Spicy hot" is plain AIN'T. (With the exception of "Eros" variety paprika which is scarcely ubiquitous.) Your point reaches the level of inanity of those who ascribe to the literal truth of the History Channel. "Oooooh, I saw where peppers were originally from the Western Hemisphere! That makes me soooo much more aware." My point stands: pepper-laden foods purveyed from ethnic restaurants do not represent the host's cuisine. Maybe the best chili in the world is made in Kamchatka, Russia by a transplanted Mexican cook. Great. That don't make Russian cuisine the world's spiciest. My initial post pretty well spelled that out with my Estonian parable.
admin
Submitted by Guest on Mon, 04/10/2023 - 11:30 Permalink
Re: Which Country Has the Best Spicy Food?
What English food is "hot"? Transplanting vindaloo from India don't make it "English." Inclusivity stops at the palate.
Hmm. Tell that to the Indians, Koreans, Thai and Chinese, whose traditional foods never contained chili peppers until they were imported into their cultures in the 1600s via Portguese traders who brought it from the Americas.
So I guess we should categorize them all as varieties of Native American cuisine
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