Are we immune?

scharf = spicy

Jack and I love eating different ethnic foods. Back in the US, it was not uncommon for us to eat Mexican, Indian, Greek, and Asian in the same week. I love experimenting with food and cooking with a wealth of ingredients.

One thing that I love to cook with is spice, and when I say spice, I mean the hot and spicy kind. This means chilies from all levels on the Scoville Scale, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, Hot Sauce, Siracha sauce...you name it, I've used it or have an intension to do so. I say that I have an intension to do so, because there is no way that I can experiment with spicy flavors in Deutschland.

I don't quite understand why there is a word for "spicy" in german, because none of their foods are. In fact, today I was grocery shopping at the turkish grocery store, where I found a bunch of chilies labeled "SCHARF!!!", written in large, capital, red, underlined, and highlighted letters. The sign even had fire drawn around it. "Score!" I thought to myself, and I loaded up on the chilies. I brought them to the man who weighs the produce, and he seemed worried.

Turkish Grocer: "Sie kochen mit scarfer Paprika? Und essen Sie sie?" 

(You cook with these chilies? And you eat them?") 

Me: "Ja!" I said proudly. "Ich bin stark! Es ist kein problem!"  

(Yes! I am strong! It's not a problem!)

The Turkish grocer raised his eyebrows, shook his head as if saying "Good luck," and gave them back to me.

Naturally, Jack, seeing the chilies, got very excited and wanted to cook them in his lentil recipe right away. Jack has his lentil recipe down to a science, and when there is a heat added to the mix, it is one of my favorite meals. He carefully chopped up the chilies, put them into a mix of spices, onions, ginger, garlic, and oil. He boiled the lentils along with some rice. Finally, the cooking was finished, and Jack sat down with his lentil lunch (I already ate, or else I would have had some too!) He took a bite. Then a second. Then a third. "Is it spicy?" I asked. He felt his forehead (Jack's indicator for spicy food. If a food is spicy, his head sweats...don't ask), and it was "dewey", or "glistening." He tried taking more bites. "I dunno," he said. "I mean, there's a zing, but it's not spicy."

WTF? Are we just immune to all of the spice here? Or did we abuse spicy foods so much back home that we have no more taste buds? Either way, we have yet to find the heat that is so easily found in the US. Perhaps we are not looking in the right places? Deutschland, where are you hiding all of your spicy food?