On Spicy Food and Being a Responsible Adult
Yesterday I visited a few friends.
One of them is obsessed with what we call ×2 noodles and their spicier ×3 noodles cousin. These are extremely spicy - ×2 is 8,800 Scoville units, ×3 is 13,200 Scoville units. They're also illegal in Denmark.
As this friend does, the meeting felt like an event. He photographed everything, they made food for those who didn't want to sacrifice their tongues, some came with their kids - it was a fun evening. This was important for me - because my girlfriend has COVID, I worked from home to help around and be available this whole week. Other than clerks at shops, this was my first face to face social interaction this week.
Back to spicy stuff - I, knowing my limit, asked for the measly ×2 noodles, while the rest of those who participated went for the ×3, the brave souls. I don't know how they did it - my meal was spicy!
After taking a few bites, and with the risk of this coming back to me for the rest of my life, I stopped eating - for me this level of spicy was more painful than it was fun.
Younger me would've tried to complete this challenge. Younger me would've a better story to tell, and a feeling of accomplishment. He wouldn't, however, have a feeling of his tongue for a while afterwards. Adult me was responsible enough to understand that this test of endurance proves nothing significant, that I wouldn't want to suffer the effects of eating too much spicy stuff, that it's okay to stop if I'm suffering, and that I could live with the results.
When we were younger, the friend who organized this event, a few friends and me participated in an 18 hours movie marathon (that same friend is to blame for this too). The friend and I were the only ones who survived all of the movies without falling asleep. The whole ordeal provided me with a good story and a sense of achievement (even if it's a very unimportant one). I always wanted to try to do another movie marathon like this, knowing that most chances that, being older now, we wouldn't succeed. Now I know that, even if I'll fall asleep in such an event, I'll probably be okay with it.
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