Commentary
Many of us enjoy spicy food. At the same time, many of us really don't like spicy food. According to an article in The New York Times, there may be more of a personality trait to this than one might have originally thought. Additionally, the fact that any human being likes spicy food might say a lot about the evolution of our species.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that our enjoyment (or non-enjoyment) of spicy food might have to with the unique human capability of getting pleasure out of painful experiences: "Humans and only humans get to enjoy events that are innately negative, that produce emotions or feelings that we are programmed to avoid when we come to realize that they are actually not threats," said Dr. Paul Rozin of University of Pennsylvania, who calls this trait "benign masochism". After all, we are the only animal that likes spicy food, as evidenced by the inclusion of Capsaicin (the chemical compound that makes chilies spicy) in many animal repellents.
What this might say about people who do and do not like spicy food is not covered by the article, but it doesn't take too much thinking to see if people who like spicy foods are also ones who have a high tolerance for pain.
Josh Vogel is a Candidate for the Master of Public Health at Boston University School of Public Health.
See Also
- A Perk of Our Evolution: Pleasure in Pain of Chilies at The New York Times for the article.
- Food for Thought: Paul Rozin's Research and Teaching at Penn for a lengthy interview with Paul Rozin from 1997 where he discusses many of the aspects of his research.
Commentary text licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Additional editing by The Metaist.
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3 comments:
There is an evolutionary aspect to it, as well - we are attracted to foods that our body needs or that give us benefit (up until you introduce processed foods and high fructose corn syrup). There are a bajillion (brazilion?) studies that indicate numerous health benefits of capsaicin.
A quick google search returns:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-spicy-foods.htm
http://www.naturalremedyreports.com/health-benefits-spicy-foods/
http://www.lifemojo.com/lifestyle/10-health-benefits-of-eating-spicy-food-9682300
http://www.medhunters.com/articles/trivia021908.html
@Matthew said: "we are attracted to foods that our body needs or that give us benefit"
Except that in this case, the benefit seems to be something other than the direct (health) benefits of capsaicin-- since humans are the only mammal to actively pursue and digest capsaicin (if I recall correctly). The claim is that the non-health benefit is a "benign masochism"-- we want to demonstrate our toughness.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1313553
Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Use Spices, Paul Sherman and Jennifer Billing
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