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" If you looked at me, a super pale-skinned Ashkenazi Jew from Gravesend, Brooklyn, you would probably assume my food tastes were fairly \u2014 hate to say it \u2014 basic. Bland, even. But the reality could not be further from the truth. I love\u00A0spicy foods\u2013I even love spicy cocktails. I didn&amp;#039;t grow up like that. We didn&amp;#039;t get much wilder than the crushed red pepper flakes on our pizza. But as I broke out on my own and tried new and different foods, I discovered I had very specific taste leanings. The savory and the spicy will beat out the sweets, every single time. I&amp;#039;m a fan of spice that adds flavor, not just blatant heat \u2014 people who douse wasabi on their sushi or use excessive hot sauce are not necessarily lovers of spice, so much as heat. And while heat is amazing, there&amp;#039;s a more layered essence I crave. There&amp;#039;s been studies that the enjoyment of spicy foods trigger\u00A0pleasure-sensing endorphins. They can even make you better in bed.\u00A0We enjoy it, we get pleasure from it, and\u00A0we want more of it. I know I do. Spice offers\u00A0a thrill-seeking adventure, and I think that&amp;#039;s why I&amp;#039;m drawn to it. But I also see it as a specific form of sexual attraction. We are seeking \u2013\u00A0and getting pleasure from \u2013\u00A0\u00A0the way the spice dominates us. There&amp;#039;s a point when that food hits our lips: Our lips swell and redden, our cheeks may flush, we may break into a sweat. It&amp;#039;s a reaction to capsaicin, and it&amp;#039;s very sexual. And very addictive. And so, I have the addiction. It happened in little ways. I tried Thai food for the first time when I was in college, and discovered I was very attracted to Pad Kee Mao \u2013 drunken man&amp;#039;s noodles, as Americans called it, rice noodles saut\u00E9ed with thai chilies and basil. It was spicy. But I wanted more. Eventually, I wasn&amp;#039;t happy unless my limbs were numbed and my nose running by the end of the meal. I wanted to feel the burn. And the more I felt, the more I wanted to feel. There&amp;#039;s a certain level of desensitizing in repeated exposure \u2014 a cousin of any addictive situation where, the more you have, the more you need \u2014 and heat seeking is no exception. I like to think of my love of hot food to be something of an internal conditioning \u2013\u00A0craving the heat, and then craving more of it. What is it about me, as a person, or any\u00A0of us who find what should be an aversion and are turned on by it?\u00A0 For me, the heat is never &amp;#039;just right&amp;#039; \u2013 it&amp;#039;s always more, more, more. Recently, an Indian restaurant opened near me in my Brooklyn neighborhood and I told our waiter that I wanted my dish \u2014 saag, always saag \u2014 so spicy I may cry a little. He laughed at me, probably assuming I meant &amp;quot;basic spicy&amp;quot; \u2013 and went to prepare my order. It had serious heat. But I told him I could take more, way more. He told me next time I come in, he&amp;#039;ll give me a dish he saves just for his people. It was basically foreplay. Pleasure and pain work together in all areas of our lives, and as food is such a source of pleasure in its own right, it makes sense it would transcend there, as well. And so as I continue in my quest \u2014 throwing chiles in adobe in my marinara sauce (don&amp;#039;t knock it until you try it, it&amp;#039;s delicious), and diced green chiles in basically everything, from eggs to burgers.\u00A0 I continue to\u00A0up the\u00A0spicy\u00A0ante. Because just as much as there&amp;#039;s excitement in embracing the heat and discomfort (and finding pleasure in it)\u00A0there&amp;#039;s a moment where you have endured it. And you feel fulfilled and yet, not exactly satiated. You want more. Follow Delish on Instagram. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/cooking/a47398/how-loving-spicy-foods-pleasurable/>