Sometimes I whip out my favorite spicy dish, and the people around me recoil in pain.
It’s not that they aren’t able to handle the spice, they just don’t have the same affection for it that I have. I just love the burn, because it can actually stimulate certain receptors (TRPV1) in our mouths- causing an anti-inflammatory effect.
Most of what we perceive as “hot” is actually just a chemical reaction on our taste buds. The burn on our tongues comes from when capsaicin binds to these TRPV1 receptors, which then activate them by sending a message to the brain.
