Spicy Food: the Story of the Chili Pepper in Asia 

it's really unbelievable how much the raw ingredients of Mesoamerica has influenced world cuisine. Chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, avocados, etc.

The joke in Korea is, chili peppers were passed onto korea from Japan because the Japanese thought it was poison. But the Koreans absolutely loved it .

I read somewhere that pepper was already popular throughout Asia, so the reason the chili pepper was able to spread was because the locals were already eating heavily spiced food, just not chili pepper spicy. The chili pepper took hold as a cheaper alternative to pepper in provinces that were less economically powerful yet still connected to the spice trade routes that already existed.

四川人不怕辣 Sìchuānrén búpà là, 湖南人辣不怕 Húnánrén là búpà, 贵州人怕不辣 Guìzhōurén pà búlà. (Sichuan people don't fear spicy food, Hunan people don't fear spicy food, Guizhou people fear food which isn't spicy)

Indonesian cuisine as a whole is generally more spicy than Thai cuisine, as we use a combination of cabe keriting (similar to cayenne) and rawit (similar to prik kee noo) a lot more generously. However, there is also a huge regional variation in terms of spiciness. Manadonese/Minahasan cuisine tend to rank top in terms of chili pepper usage (though not necessarily the spiciest). Northern Javanese cuisine (especially along the eastern coast) tend to be spicier than their Southern counterpart. Minangkabau cuisine from Sumatra also uses a lot of chili pepper but only as one element of diverse spice mixtures. Sumatrans absorbed a lot of Indian, Arab, and Chinese influence, resulting in them using more diverse array of spices than anywhere else in the region; one single dish can require as many as 30 distinct spices and herbs (see Acehnese-style noodle and Minang-style rendang, for example). Lastly, most modern rendition of local food such as ayam geprek and seblak also involve an unhealthy amount of chili pepper lol.

One reason for some hot locales not favouring spicy food is the type of food they eat. Seafood usually has very delicate flavours, and chilis can easily overpower its flavour. You see this around the coastal areas in China. Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai foods are not spicy. Unless its a bottom feeding river fish, then you probably want the chilis to mask the mud flavour.

This video did a much better job of explaining the dispersal of chile peppers from the Americas to the rest of the world, compared to other videos covering the topic. One thing that is however left out in many videos, is the sheer variety of peppers that were cultivated in Mexico. Only one or two varieties really spread around the world (the pepper known in Mexico as chile de arbol or dried serrano is the classic Thai chile pepper). However within Mexico you also have the jalapeño, Serrano, morita, guero (yellow), Poblano/ancho, cascabel or chiltepin, pasilla/chilaca, mirasol/guajillo, habanero, chilcostle, chilhuacle, costeño, etc. All different sizes and colors. Some hot some mild. Some fresh Some dried.

It is true that the Portuguese did not introduce hot chilies in their cuisine, but they became popular in its colonies, and in the 70s, after their independence, hot chilies (piri-piri) were brought to Portugal, and now they are quite popular.

There are hundreds of fresh and dried chile pepppers native to México, you'll see them in the weekend neighborhood markets. Not all peppers are hot, most are used for flavor.

I have often wondered what the Thais used to eat before chiles arrived from the Americas. I live in Cambodia in an old coastal pepper-growing region and what you say about the cuisines here (Thalland/Cambodia/Vietnam) is certainly true. Thank you from a new sub.

Yes, the chili peppers were introduced to Korea 17c, the history tells its from Spain. Before the chili peppers, kimchi was white

I had no idea that bell peppers were not only named after the fact that they could “ring” like a bell, but that they were so loud and annoying that someone took the initiative to breed that trait out of them. That’s hilarious! 😂

you deserve more subscribers, exquisite content my friend

As somebody who grows peppers, I think the climate’s effect on the peppers contributes greatly to the typical spice preferences. Irregular conditions tend to stress the peppers, which cause the striations associated with their heat. Hot and humid places such as the subtropical southeastern US or southern China tend to have “water bomb” rainfall in the summer between dry periods. It’s a perfect recipe to breed hot peppers like the carolina reaper.

What a fascinating and seemingly overlooked topic and great video. Thanks -- subscribed!

You might want to take note that the Punjab is in the north west of India as opposed to the southern Indian regions you pointed out that do use chili peppers . The Vietnamese originally came down from what is today Southern China. They were living in an area that is known for food that is not spicy in current day China. They migrated down along the coast, giving Vietnam the shape that it has today. Perhaps it could be that tastes were well established certain regions and more resistant, like say in the Malay Indonesian world with the plethora of spices they had available to them alteady so they included chili's as an addition rather than being the basis of a lot of the flavours that they employ. Korea's Che Ju Island has a warm climate. Citrus is even grown there so I can see why chili's would take root and be able to grow in Korea whereas similar people's in that part of the world tend to eat food that is much more bland. So it could be a combination of already established pallets and local's acceptance of what was a novel or additional spice as well as the geographic growing zones that people's tastes, traditions and cuisines have been established in.

Fun Fact: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, collectively known as The Telugu People, are known for having the spiciest cuisines in the Indian Subcontinent. The Guntur Mirchi Yard, in Andhra Pradesh, is the largest dried chilli market in all of Asia. Chilli powder is very integral to Telugu cuisine. It is so intrinsic that sometimes people eat hot white rice with just chilli powder and hot ghee, which is considered a comfort food. This practice has working-class roots in the 19th and 20th centuries, as blue-collar workers used to pack their lunch boxes with white rice and chilli powder during difficult economic times. During Summer Vacation, nuclear families living in the cities will return to their villages, to their grandparents' homes. Every summer, Grandma will prepare a huge batch of Raw and Sour Mango pickle that will last an entire year. As you may have already guessed by now, Indian pickles have a lot of chilli powder, oils, and other spices. On a large tray, raw and sour mangoes, which have been sun-dried for the past few days, will be added. To that, a large amount of chilli powder, salts, oils, seeds, and other spices will be added and mixed well. All of it will be transferred to huge 10-litre Ceramic pickle jars. And now, Grandma will gather all the grandchildren around her. She will then add hot rice to the tray in which there is a residue of chilli powder and spices left. She will pour hot ghee into the rice and mix it well with her hand. She will then lovingly feed all the grandchildren. To the grandchildren, it is a contest. To see who can handle the spice better without drinking water. And sometimes, the grandchildren will demand more. So Grandma will take a spoonful of pickle spice from the jar and prepare another serving with hot rice and ghee. The delicacy (dare I call it) has also been romanticized in popular culture and movies. There are love stories where the class divide between the lovers is bridged with the humble "Karam Annam," meaning Chilli-rice. In one film, a rich businesswoman restricts her father and her daughter from eating mango pickle, saying it's the food of a poor man. So the grandfather and the granddaughter plan to secretly eat the pickle rice elsewhere. In search of the pickle rice, they go to a stranger's house. Initially confused, the strangers understand their situation and feed them the pickle rice and even offer to feed them anytime. The daughter, in the process, falls in love with the young man in the strangers' house. There is even a movie titled 'Mirchi' translating to Chilli with a title track that describes the protagonist as a hot and spicy chilli. The Chillies traveled from the Americas to India, have etched deep into the culture so much so that many Indians do not know that Pepper is native to India but their beloved Chilli is not. The humble chilli has so many stories to tell, some personal and some romanticized.

I just discovered your channel. Early modern era history of Southeast Asia - my dream channel. Why has it taken youtube so long to recommend it? The quality seems good, so I hope you will become my favorite channel!

This is a fascinating topic to discuss, i too like spicy food but can not handle something very hot. Thank you for making this video

Great post!

This type of video is really good, thanks for all this information

I’m so glad you still make content

Liking spicy food is an interesting topic for me see, I'm from Indonesia where spicy food is common and even spicy challenge is common too. My father is from Menado and my mother is from Medan. 2 of which are famous for having the spiciest cuisine in Indonesia. It's so hellish that as a child I couldn't handle spicy food, even a pepper put me on the edge Growing up most of the food felt gatekeeped by the spice. sometimes they need to make a special unspicy version for me. I remember there was one family event where all the food was spicy except the plain rice, so ofc I was forced to eat them well, the thing is the food tasted really good, and you need to train and force it to actually enjoy it. so now I'm pretty good at handling spicy food, albeit my body seems more easily sweat than my friends now I think you can enjoy some food without the spice or even with less spicy levels. but some other need to be spicy or very spicy even, to be fully enjoyed

Interesting way of storytelling ✍️👍 I simply love it

I remember reading a Thai manuscript or chronicle saying that spicy peppers are a sort of "challenge food" among the upper class and would often hold competitions to see who could best handle the spice.

I am pretty sure that some chilis made their way to Asia from the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade.

Great video! I had no idea, how.. 'recent' spicy was worldwide. I imagined it being everywhere forever.. I mean, capcacin.. Like, percussive spice or, wasabi/mustard sure. I thought Asia was rocking it forever. Glad I came upon this channel! Great content!

Interesting thing is that for most Indians the max heat-level they would be comfortable with is "Thai chili" but, we use a lot of other spices in our cuisine which do not contribute to the heat of a dish. Actually, Punjabi, Mughlai, Rajasthani cuisine use many more typess spices in a single dish as compared to Andhra cuisine but the heat level of Andhra cuisine is much higher.

great research...

It's not just about the heat. Different peppers and different curing techniques bring a lot of different flavors. If you can take the heat, habaneros have a sweet floral note. Urfa and Aleppo pepper have a kind of umami/raison quality. My favorite is dried pequin, with an almost nutty, buttery flavor.

Here in Hong Kong 🇭🇰 people can’t stand any spice at all. If the food has the slightest hint of a chili they will warn you how spicy it is and people will act like it’s super spicy 🌶️ even if you can’t even taste any spice

Great presentation. Try and add a segment on Hatch County NM. There is a cult following of the Anaheim chilies.

I love chilis, and also number 3 on my reasons why time travel would suck.

appreciate your intellectual honesty about this topic. there seems to be a conspiracy theory out there these days that the Spanish brought the chili pepper to Asia, when in fact it was the Portuguese who brought the pepper to both Asia & Africa.

In Mexico chili not is a spice, is our food.

It is entirely cultural. Koreans actually didn't eat much spicy food until the 1950's when a varietal of chili was found that could grow easier in Korea, and then the military dictator at the time decide to push the spice to the general population, and quickly almost all Korean food became reddish. So the red kimchee we saw today became popular less than 100 years ago. It's close neighbor Japan never adopted chili the same way and even now can't handle heat Koreans enjoys daily. NE China which is right next to Korea, never develop any sort of spicy dish as well.

There are several Hindu rituals were food is prepared without using any of the new world vegetables and spices. Very interesting to know about.

I wasn't really raised in a household that used lots of peppery foods, and was shocked as a middle-schooler when I had dinner at a friend's house, only to find they had put dried chili flakes into their mashed potatoes. That experience taught me at a young age that different people eat different things based on where they grew up, what cultures they were exposed to, and what foods were most commonly available to them. (I grew up near Seattle, Washington, while they grew up near Modesto, California; I was therefore exposed to a lot more Asian cuisine locally, while they were exposed to a lot more Mexican when they lived down there, based purely on regional immigration patterns.) Unfortunately, just as I was starting to enjoy hot and spicy foods in my college years, however...I had to have my gallbladder removed, and that severely reduced how much capsaicin my body could tolerate. Which sucked. And still sucks, despite it being decades later. But I have discovered a mild chili pepper that I enjoy, which is the poblano. Not too much heat to trigger acid reflux, but also quite a lot of actual flavor besides the heat.

I have heard of theories regarding why chili peppers and other spicy food are adopted into culture, that being for health reasons that protected them from food poisoning and other forms of foodborne infections. I am not very knowledgeable about it but I have seen posts in strong support of it against the idea that spice use is more related to socioeconomic factors.

A million tons of chilis seems like a lot. I believe you, just amazed

I always tell this fact to Korean and Thai people, but they never believe me!

The range in spice line herbs and foods in general is governed by individual tastes + the willingness to expand one's taste development. Some people just aren't adventurous, still tastes can adapt, and even then there are limits to a capacity to develop new tastes. Children don't usually like mushrooms originally and then even those folks who think cilantro tastes like soap have been known to change their minds. The latter don't take up soap eating. Then again as human digestion capabilities ware down with age and thus range of consumption. Appetites of all sorts have shifted. 😜

as a chinese also an asian,chili is the best food that human discovered. The person who discovered chili deserves a memorial 🗿🗿

I could probably handle scotch bonnet or habanero. I honestly don't mind lighting my mouth,face and lips on fire! The more i sweat,the better! I like it. It adds excitement to what you are eating!

MELAKA/MALACCA MENTIONED (sorry it's so rare to see a well produced historical video here that mentions Melaka, considering how important of a port it was historically. as a melakan, i am very pleased by this!)

I really like the Carolina reaper chili, or ghost peppers, or habanero ❤

chili pepper is a good way to preserve food(the capciasin prevent bacteria growth, also mask up stale taste) when there is an absence of salt, so a lot of coastal regions even in hot climates don't eat chili peppers much(case and point, GuangDong/Canton region of China and Hong Kong, which are located in the hottest part of China, but don't use chili), since they have all the salt they need. I know Imperial Chinese government holds a monopoly on salt trade, and they made sure it is pricey through high taxes, but other governments likely does have a hefty tax on salt too. with pepper, citizens can reduce their salt buying to just "cooking salt" and forgo buying "meat curing salt". the exception, of course, is Korea, which has very spicy food but is also very coastal.

I'd be very curious to see a study on the correlation between peoples' love or dislike of chilis and their aversion or attraction to danger. In other words: Are adventurous people more inclined to like spicy food?

Columbus's effect on the world cuisines was incredible, as he brought new plants from the new world. Amazing person!

Jjamppong is the perfect dish for me

Paprika is still spicy when you use the right one. You have numerous kinds in Hungary and German lands certainly. Good you mentioned that they are easy to groe

We Indians can be pretty flexible with our cuisine. There's a new world pride in "tradition" but Indian cuisine is pretty atraditi0nal. When I first learned that chillies originated in south America, I was shocked. Then I learned the same about potatoes. These two things are such a large part of our diet. Poverty informs life and you can see it in the food the poor eat. Not even most Indians are vegetarian by choice. Meat is expensive. Similarly the poor cannot afford spices so chilly is the default flavor profile of most home style Indian cooking in India. Most Indians don't get to eat the Indian food westerners do.

Some dude many years ago: “damn this hurts…in a good way”

The Americas saved the world from starvation. Holy soil North, Central and South.

Even we indonesian love to eat spicy food in the morning

Corn, beans, squash, chilies, tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla and cacao originated in the Americas. Russia wouldn't have vodka; Italians wouldn't have tomatoes and the East wouldn't have chilies for spicy curry.

So in short 🤔 1. Ancient Chinese aren't supposed to have any spicy food till modern times 2. Chilis are indeed originated from South America, migrated by Spanish/Portuguese

I eat spicy food sometimes, although I'm not addicted to it. Once when I was in Java I went in a small restaurant and got a 'rice bowl' with meat. It was so spicy that I absolutely could not eat it. But perhaps the chef was playing a joke on me.

Bolivia mentioned let's go!

Spicy food is quite popular throughout the Southern States.Our cuttoff point is usually in the Habanero range, although there are always masochists willing to go hotter. "Ahem." One of my sisters makes Ghost Pepper salsa every summer, and distributes jars of it on holidays to family and freinds less faint of heart.

I am orignally from Hunan, China. I miss the local chili peppers from my hometown.

3:54 the english translations should be swapped, the left is ji bong yu seol

Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now!

There are "local" chilis (not from pepper family ofc) from across Asia countries, and chili pepper just replaces the popularity of those local chilis. They are called long pepper, and even some region has a native species for that long pepper. Higher chance that Southern China region also had used long pepper in their foods before chili dominated the region.

Vindaloo was created in the UK

I love hot foods (habanero pepper is my favorite)... but I've seen what can happen when you go overboard. The other day I ate a ghost pepper... my body expelled moisture, alright.

I would think that the strong flavor may mask the gaminess of bushmeat.

The idea that bell peppers were unpopular because they rang too loud. Yeah, I find that *_really_* hard to swallow for *_a number_* of reasons.

@storiesinhistory is just like MSG. some groups have higher tastes than others😁

It's curious how Spain is one of the world's largest chili producers but our food isn't hot at all. You could find some dishes that are hot (and in the Basque country they have piparras, a mildly hot chili) but a great deal of our dishes use our chilies as a way flavour enhancer but not a spicy one.

Besides that i like em a lot, my chronicle issues alow me to blow my nose once in a while and breath freely again when eating hot spicy foods. Does it make me sweat like a pig at the same time, sure does but that is a small price to pay =)

Interesting that the first image you show of the historical use of chillis, depicts their use to torture people by holding them over clouds of smouldering chilli smoke (no trivial thing, as I can attest, having once made the mistake of throwing a handful of dried chillies into a 'red hot' frying pan that didn't have sufficient oil... I had to literally crawl to the door, coughing, choking and streaming tears, like someone who'd been 'crowd controlled' by French riot police!) When you realise that this punishment wasn't used for prisoners of war, or criminals, but rather for _errant children(!)_ it doesn't come as a _huge_ surprise to learn that the former categories could expect to be skinned alive, or to have their heart cut out alive and shoved before their dying eyes! (That'll 'larn' em..!) One has to wonder whether these people, if they'd eaten a diet that was a little _gentler_ on their stomachs, might they have been a little less uptight, had less tense relations with their neighbours, and had children who could perhaps have grown up a little better adjusted!

Anyone else notice the pokeballs in the illustration seen minutes 11:35-11:59?

Try as you might to get a bell pepper to sound like a bell with whatever you like, you'll never get it to any level of annoyance. Carrilon, I think is simply an April Fool's joke and while a fun "fact" it doesn't make it to being "historical". Personally, I'm very interested in how the Chilli displaced Sichuan peppers and essentially was a European attempt whether deliberate or not, to push down the purchase price of spices. I believe safeguarding national production and local growers was the reason the chilli was assigned "decorative duties" and became the food of the poor. With the rise of Communism, the Chilli becomes a socialist staple and now China out-produces the planet! Food is often about classes, the rich v the poor, religion, occupation and liberation. In Crete, a place which could easily be the spiciest of the Med, because of Ottoman occupation and liberation, forced population exchange, Rich v poor, spice and hot food is very rare whereas in Cyprus heat and spice remain common.

I tend to ask how hot the nuclear wings are and if they ask to sign a release then I get the really really hot wings instead.

So why there is no specific english word to describe chilli pepper taste beside hot and spicy. Hot is connected with fire, spicy come from spices that include not only chilli pepper. We indonesian said "pedas" to express chilli pepper taste.

11:36 this proves that pokemons used to exist. Exhibit A: Pokeballs clearly illustrated ;)

Buena Mulata Beautiful, highly productive, variable flavor across the ripening process Thanks for the vid

im indonesian and i just ate chili

Hellberries

I'm always amazed how spicy chilis can get. But I don't know how people cope with the heat when the digested matter leaves the day after. Spicy stools are debilitating! Just me?

chilli pepper hurt bone n eyes

China exports a huge portion of their chili's. Only a couple of regions eat spicy in China.

Nice video. Always wondered. Why do Americans say POON JAB when they can easily say PUN as in a pun. Just say PUN JAAB

People in ancient Java and most part of Indonesia arhipelago use Java Pepper before Chilies came...

I come from Guachichil roots, it’s literally in the name of our tribe.

Thank you for pronouncing it “Sunthon Poo” not “Sunthon Foo”.

Dae Young Kwon, Dai-Ja Jang, Hye Jeong Yang, Kyung Rhan Chung, History of Korean gochu, gochujang, and kimchi, Journal of Ethnic Foods, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2014 RU-vid would probably block a link. This is the most insane paper I have ever read. The authors insist that Korean chili peppers aren't related to American ones, and in fact are indigenous. They base this on references to peppers in precolumbian texts. Because those couldn't possibly be referring to a different plant. That's basically the entire basis of their argument. They don't look at genetic evidence or pollen evidence, which would be conclusive.

In India,chilli is just a vegetable not a spice

My personal theory (not based on objective evidence other than personal experience) is that chilis became popular to mask the off flavour of food that was starting to spoil but was still edible.

I thought paprika and bell pepper were the same?

9:40 they dont yes but if you look at the history behind these peppers you can see that the ones that seem out of place are new hybrids made by hobbyist or by accident and actually originate from the ones that do seem in place eg ghost pepper has been in india for a long time easy mistake but also easy to spot, naga viper, naga aint english "snake snake" Also kimchi and many other foods existed and still exist without chillies

As the comedian Russel Peters once said, in school I learned that the Portuguese traveled the world over in search of spices. Well, I‘ve tasted your cooking, and… you didn’t find them.

Paprika is made from bell peppers, not chili peppers

Lada........

No entiendo por que no diste a México y a otras partes de América como Perú, la importancia real que tiene el chile (aji) en nuestra historia y comida. Ni siquiera hablas del origen de la palabra "chile" y das menor importancia a España que a Portugal siendo que la palabra chile se origina en México y este país fue colonia española, por la que lógicamente el primer conocimiento que tuvieron los europeos sobre el fruto del chile fue en México y seria el comercio español el que difundió el producto a nivel mundial, por eso se le llama "chile" en el mundo, como al chocolate y al tomate.

@11:40... pokeballs

I don't know but a channel named OTR is stealing video concepts and research materials. Name kinda similar with OBR who is doing the samething

In Thai, the word for pepper literally translates to "Thai chili".

Poonjab?