Re: [CH] Spicy Foods and Tropic climates
John Benz Fentner, Jr. (jbenz@courant.infi.net)
Mon, 07 Sep 1998 08:01:25 -0400
Signe Shivers wrote:
>
> Ok - I know this has been an ongoing argument - Why does it seem that
> Equatorial cultures use spicy foods more than the Glacial Europeans (As
> my husband is prone to call that ilk)
>
> Here's a hypothesis I have not yet seen in print (maybe there's a reason
> for that, maybe not) I once read that the Inuit (Eskimoes) don't sweat
> as readily as most people. The reason being that to sweat could be
> deadly if you cool down later - then the moisture would contribute to
> hypothermia. So maybe the northern cultures didn't take to hot foods
> because it would cause them to sweat and while schussing home (that's a
> form of skiiing) they could freeze to death.
Could be...but I've heard rumors that even people in Maine eat the
occasional chile pepper...and it gets colder than the North side of a
South bound witch up there.
More likely it's just 'cause chile peppers grow wild and in great
variety in tropial climates. The local populations just had more
opportunity to use them in the days when everybody ate what they could
grow and the soopermarkets were closed on the weekends.
JB "o"o===="
On the other hand, the Mainiacs say they don't perspire either...
--
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John Benz Fentner, Jr.
Unionville, Connecticut, USA
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/
"Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis"
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