Since the dawn of time, Asians have long yearned to pleasure their fickle tongues. When they stumbled upon a small, pointy, red (often green, and occasionally even yellow) vegetable, all their wishes were immediately fulfilled. Other than rice, chili is the other staple of any true Asian’s healthy diet.
It can be argued that chili is not necessarily an Asian food. Other cultures do devour chili en masse as well (such as those jalapeno-loving Mexicans), but for some reason, chili has become synonymous with Asian people. Asians just adore this little treasure of a vegetable, as it is such a flexible yet staple food for Asians that can be consumed in a variety of methods.
In a foreign land where food is very bland (for preservative reasons), asians use chili to add flavors never before experienced by 
mankind to their soups, salads, snacks, and other entres. It can be said that beans are to mexicans as chili is to Asians. It’s just become so intertwined into asian culture that it is now customary for nearly every asian restaurant to sport a container of pickled green chili peppers. Asians also know another secret about chili:
It’s a libido booster. Along with foods such as Almonds, avocados, celery, oysters, fig, and nutmeg; the chili is most definitely an au natural viagra due to the fact that the spiciness stimulates blood circulation. Why else do you think Asians are the most populous people on earth? The discovery of Chili, however, can not be purely accredited to asians.
Contrary to popular belief, and awful stereotypes (not at all helped by this site), chili was not even discovered by Asians. Yes that’s right; Asia’s second favorite food was actually discovered by the white man. Ignoring blind consumption of chili in prehistoric times (hehe, imagine a caveman eating a bushel of chili), it has been documented that in the 15th-16th century, when Europeans dominated commerce in South-East Asia, European sailors encouraged the trade of chili into the Philippines and then through to India, China, Korea and Japan. That is how chili has become a vital staple in Asian cuisine.
At restaurants, Asians have that uncanny quirk of requesting cut chili on the side, even if the dish is obviously spicy enough, doused in chili powder, and already has chili cooked into the food. This will signal, in some, the onslaught of sweat and that annoying “tsk” noise that asians naturally know. If you ever want to be asian, build up an immunity to chili. Asians respect anyone that can walk into an asian restaurant and eat food just like them. As the saying goes, you can never have too much of a good thing!
Written by: sy88 and Peter
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17 responses so far ↓
1 Loweeel // Apr 28, 2008 at 8:51 pm
You guys need to watch more Alton Brown, because you made some pretty glaring mistakes.
1.
Chili = ground beef, tomato, and CHILI powder.
Chile = country in South America
ChiLLi = the hot and sweet capsicum peppers.
2. The Chilli Pepper is a berry, not a vegetable. Like all berries (of which tomato is one), it is a fruit (as it grows on trees/bushes and contains the seed pod). Vegetables, on the other hand, contain the xylem and are typically the leaves/roots/stems of the plant, not the seed pod.
2 Peter // Apr 28, 2008 at 11:05 pm
thanks for your input
3 hrhkat // Apr 28, 2008 at 11:25 pm
…..god dont you hate know it alls?….Doesnt he know that one never ever ever corrects an asian person? Asian people hate to be corrected, no matter if they say the sky is green, or the ocean is pink, you do not correct them.
Anyway…..you need to write a post on asian peoples gardens. More specifically, vegetable gardens, and you must include how everyone of them are the most perfect gardens anyone has ever seen, unless your asian.
Asian people also love giving their children work books on top of regular schoolwork. Sure, it will help them in school, but they will lose a great amount of social skills that are usually acquired as a child.
4 Peter // Apr 29, 2008 at 6:53 am
darn right
5 Amy // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Ugh, this thing is EVIL. Burns your tongue, makes you cough, kills your taste buds! Yet my Dad eats it like a fruit. I think the inside of his mouth is coated with steel.
But yeah, I admit some dishes wouldn’t be the same without chilli. Bun bo Hue! *gulp*
Re: fruit vs. veg. There are many types of fruits that are used as vegetables, so they’re grouped into the veggie group. Cucumbers, capsicums, tomatoes, winter melons, etc. So I guess it’s hard to be so technical about it really.
6 stuffgirlslike // Apr 30, 2008 at 6:36 am
This is funny given that in Britain Asian means India and Pakistani and chili their love.
I do not associate chili with the Far East.
7 Anonymous // May 1, 2008 at 5:50 am
“Asians respect anyone that can walk into an asian restaurant and eat food just like them.”
Interesting…by this logic Mexicans must be the most respected people in the Asian world.
I ‘m Puertorican, and a lover of extremely spicy dishes. I’ve had my share of spicy Asian food, and still have to rate Mexicans as the most spicy-resistant eaters, although some Thai dishes are apparently meant for those with titanium-coated digestive tracts…delicious!
Being married to a Filipina, I agree 100% with the tendency to demand chilli with every dish, along with a bowl of white rice, even if she’s having pancakes!
8 Anonymous // May 1, 2008 at 8:31 am
Are you serious? They were SO not discovered by the white man. They were domesticated in North and South America thousands of years before any white man set eyes on them.
9 wildgift // May 11, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Chilis are from the Americas, around Mexico and south.
Japanese, northern Chinese, and Mongolian food don’t really use a lot of chilis. They use some, but, not a whole lot compared to other areas closer to the equator.
10 Blue Floppy Hat // Aug 21, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I thought chilli was specifically an Indian(many parts of India, anyway) and Southeast Asian thing for cuisine, I wasn’t aware they were much used in Chinese or Japanese food (although Korean food can be really spicy, it’s kind of an anomaly that way) .
11 areacodeeightzeroeight // Sep 8, 2008 at 9:53 pm
damn, that plate looks good! :p….
12 areacodeeightzeroeight // Sep 8, 2008 at 9:57 pm
another thing worth noting. you arent truly asian, unless you have those same style of plates in your household. every asian household i know has them by the load.st
13 Lisa // Dec 17, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I love it, a picture of kangkung sambal belacan! Hello fellow Malaysian / Singaporean…
14 joker // Mar 19, 2009 at 6:34 pm
thanks 4 the information about chili…. as u provide what about chili ,,, just wanna ask something what about its benefits? or what are its disadvantage to our health?
thank you……
15 linda // Jul 19, 2010 at 7:58 pm
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16 LTSoySauce // Oct 18, 2011 at 1:09 am
I love spicy food ^^
17 ilovehorseyrides // Sep 27, 2015 at 2:11 pm
I eat chili peppers at parties. Every time I eat one slice, my mouth feels like it is on fire LOL!!! It was AWESOME!!!!
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