Spicy vegetables like chili peppers and pickled fruits and vegetables can enhance the flavor of a dish without much fuss. But routinely eating them until they become part of your diet is another matter. The question is, can your system withstand this continuous onslaught of spicy or vinegary foods? The problem of food sensitivities arises when hot and pickled foods become regular items on your menu.
Green Chilies and Sour Gherkins
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 by a chemist in the hot vegetable, she was swayed by his overhyped claims of the benefits of vitamin C. Like the famous English chef, it’s either green chilli or nothing related to food.
As an aside, Jamie uses chili peppers to disciple her children, though I doubt the chef could do that with her small frame.
While Jamie is a master pickle, he combines pear with chili, mango with apricot, and radish with cilantro; The lady chef is the perfect counterpart to him in pickling green fruits, such as green papaya and green plum. Aside from the chillies he eats, I think it’s best that Jamie’s pickles remain as recipes, since the chef has been lying in her hospital bed due to overdosing on chillies and sour pickles. Poor me! Didn’t she know that chili peppers and pickles are fatal?
Health risks
It is clear that you cannot live on a diet in which chili peppers and sour pickles are eaten as staple foods. Your stomach will protest when the walls become irritated. Frequent bouts of vomiting will mess up your diet and you simply won’t be able to keep your food down. Worse still, these could be symptoms of a stomach ulcer. This is the consequence that taste overrides common sense. After all, a good experienced chef may not be a nutritionist who makes wise food choices.
While you might enjoy an occasional dose of pickled chili peppers, it can be harmful when you’ve eaten enough pickles to constitute a health hazard. There is a need for moderation when eating foods with spicy flavors.
Having a culinary grandmother has given me an edge over that lady chef. She disapproves of all kinds of hot peppers; which is why chili is banished from the dinner table. Honestly, no one likes the prospect of dealing with a sore throat by breaking any of their dietary laws.
It was also doubly lucky 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!