Spicy vegetables like chili peppers and pickled fruits and vegetables can enhance the flavor of a dish without much fuss. But eating them routinely until they become part of your diet is another matter. The question is, can your system withstand this continual onslaught of spicy or vinegary foods? The problem of food sensitivities arises when hot and pickled foods become regular items on your menu.
Green chillies and sour pickles
There was the story of a very good cook who, like Jamie Oliver, was addicted to green chilies. While he may be captivated by the potential happiness conjured up by a chemical in the hot vegetable, she was carried away by his overhyped claims of vitamin C benefits. Like the famous English chef, it’s green chili or nothing related to food.
Besides, Jamie uses chili peppers to disciple her children, although I doubt the chef can do that with her petite frame.
While Jamie is a master of pickles, he pairs chili pear, apricot mango and cilantro radish; the lady chef is the perfect counterpart to him in pickling green fruits, such as green papaya and green plum. Aside from the chili peppers he eats, I think Jamie’s pickles are best left as recipes, since the chef has lain in her bed in the hospital due to an overdose of chili peppers and bitter pickles. Poor me! Didn’t she know that chili peppers and pickles are fatal?
Health risks
Clearly, you can’t live on a diet where chili peppers and sour pickles are eaten as staples. Your stomach will protest when the walls chafe. Frequent bouts of vomiting will mess up your diet and you just won’t be able to keep your food down. Worse yet, these may be symptoms of a stomach ulcer. This is the consequence of taste overriding common sense. After all, a good experienced chef may not be a nutritionist who makes wise food choices.
While you may enjoy an occasional dose of pickled chiles, they can be harmful when you’ve eaten enough pickles to constitute a health hazard. There is a need for moderation when taking foods with spicy flavors.
Having a culinary grandmother has put me at an advantage over that lady chef. She disapproves of all kinds of hot peppers; so chili is banished from the dinner table. Honestly, no one likes the prospect of dealing with a sore throat by breaking any of their food laws.
It was also doubly fortunate that no one in the family had the time or inclination for pickling, as the entire clan has been spared the wrath of Hippocrates, whose food is medicine!