When I see a lot of posts and stuff from the states you always “brag” excessively about how much hot sauce you eat and what kind and so on and you putting it on everything. Why do you eat so much hot sauce? I find it hard to convey what I mean but whats the deal with all the hot sauce? If you drown your food in hot sauce wont the food just taste like hot sauce?

34 comments

  1. I don’t eat things with hot sauce very often at all. If I want to spice up a dish I usually just use some hot peppers… but habanero is as hot as I’ll go, I don’t want to set myself on fire.

  3. I don’t. I like some level of spice but not to the point of my food burning my mouth.

    Also, the spiciest food I have seen in the US wasn’t even classic American – it was either Mexican or Asian. Evanston, where I used to live, has an Asian Fusion restaurant that serves a dish so spicy that people who order it are literally required to sign a waiver that the restaurant isn’t liable for the possible health effects.

  4. I don’t. When I’m eating Mexican food, I sometimes like spicy salsa on it, but not hot sauce.

  7. I mean, we put hot sauce on just about everything in the military. All I really use it for now is eggs. Idk, just like the flavor it adds.

  8. >When I see a lot of posts and stuff from the states you always “brag” excessively about how much hot sauce you eat

    Do you have any examples of this hot sauce bragging that you can show us?

    It’s just a condiment, it’s not really a huge deal.

  9. I use to have a hot sauce called “”One F%^€^*g Drop At A Time”. A few drops in a pot of soup would give it a nice warmth without being too hot.

  10. There’s definitely a subset of people who are “hotheads” and like to brag about downing foods with hot sauce and spice but I don’t think it’s as widespread or common as you might be lead to believe by media or internet. It’s notable because it’s uncommon and it’s also noticeable because the people who do this and share it feel like they have something to brag about.

  12. i get your point, i think there is a certain subset of men who love to brag about how much heat they can take. I’m not sure it’s limited to Americans, although it could be, I’m not sure. There is a very funny scene in the not-American novel *Vanity Fair* in which a British army officer, recently returned from India, eats some hot Indian food to prove how manly and cosmopolitan he is to the ladies, so it’s not new.

    I do like hot sauce myself because it’s nice. But I’m not on a quest for the hottest sauce and I have nothing to prove.

  13. I know a couple of people who act like they are going to win a medal or something when they eat spicy food, but that isn’t the norm. About half the people I know can’t stand anything spicy.

  15. Honestly? Its because the food I grew up on was so bland, anything that I can eat with flavor makes me happy. Nobody in the family liked cooking or cleaning so I was raised on previously frozen meals, whatever didnt make dishes, or sandwiches. The first ever condiment I was ever allowed to add to my food was hot sauce because butter, salt, and ketchup were considered bad for my growing body. Always gonna have a special place in my heart for the stuff because of that.

  16. I’m a Mild fan myself. I think the algorithm is just hyping one aspect of our culture(again).

  17. People who are super into hot sauce are just a specific subculture of people, but we naturally have more of those people here because we have a culinary tradition of hot sauces.

    Similarly, we have a culinary tradition of BBQ so we have a whole subculture of “BBQ pit masters,” so much so that there are national BBQ competitions that they’ve made TV shows about.

    Kind of like how Europeans will go on and on about bread and cheese.

    Also, remember to scale whenever you see posts from Americans on the internet. It’s a country of 330 million people. If even 0.1% of people are doing something, that’s 330,000 people, which seems like a lot of people if you’re from a smaller country, but that isn’t a lot of people here.

  19. I’ve heard of some cultures where the ability to tolerate spicy food is a measure of virility.

  20. I was born down on the gulf coast. My father’s side of the family can trace itself back to some of the earliest French Canadian settlers there. That spicy cooking is just in my blood. Food ain’t good unless it makes you sweat and your nose run.

  21. I had a buddy who went whole hawg to try and condition himself to the stand the hottest sauces and peppers he could find.

    Like to the point where he would turn red, sweet and just look miserable.

    I never understood it. I like sauces that impart flavor and not pain.

    He claimed there was nuanced flavors hidden there.

    I just think he melted his taste buds off.

  22. I like hot sauce. I probably have at least 6 bottles in my fridge right now and 6 more in my cabinets. But if all I taste is heat (instead of flavor), I don’t want it.

    Hot sauce is meant to enhance food. Not consume it.

    And I certainly don’t brag or even talk about it with others. It’s a quiet enjoyment kind of thing.

  25. There is a certain subsection of the population who sees eating very hot foods (usually something drenched in very hot hot sauce) to be a testament of their toughness.

    I absolutely love eating hot things, and I still don’t understand that craze, and especially why you would want to brag about it any more than you eating something excessively salty or sour.

    Honestly, I am just wanting to be able to order hot things without having someone trying to talk me out of it due to my lack of melanin. Maybe then I can look into bragging territory! /j

  26. Hot sauce is popular yes. Putting spicy peppers in/on food happens alllll over the world though, like in Thailand or India for example. So I hope this isn’t that surprising.

  27. I think that spicy food is kind of addictive once you acquire a taste for it. I don’t really talk about hot sauce, I don’t put it on everything, and I’m not obsessed with getting sauces so hot I can barely eat them.

    I’ve got a variety of hot sauces, oils, pastes, and powders so that I can pick something that I think will complement the food I’m putting it on. I like Tabasco sauce as much as the next guy but I don’t want everything to taste like spicy vinegar.

    There are definitely times that I use hot sauce to cover up the flavor of food and it’s typically when I don’t like it’s flavor. I’m not a big fan of boiled or steamed vegetables. There’s just something dank and funky about the way it tastes. Add enough hot sauce or chili paste and the funky taste I hate gets covered up by some spicy goodness that I enjoy.

    Reheating leftovers is another time that the chili will get busted out. Even if I enjoyed the flavor of the food during dinner the night before I don’t always want to feel like I’m eating the same thing again for lunch the next day.

  28. >Why do you eat so much hot sauce?

    Because, and I can say this confidently, it’s yummy. 🙂

    Seriously, I don’t go for spice-as-a-sport, myself, but a little of the right thing, just-so makes average food *pop.*

    > If you drown your food in hot sauce wont the food just taste like hot sauce?

    Yes, there is that. Also, sheer firepower isn’t all there is to a good hot-sauce (this is mildly heretical in some quarters).

  29. People are irritated bc you are asking “why do Americans do this weird / bad thing?” Ie you are making assumptions off poor sources. We get a million of those posts a day. If you were to his ask, “hey, is it true that Americans really like hot sauce? If so, why?” You would get a lot more genuine responses.

    Anyway, yes, we love hot sauce in the US much more than in European countries. Some people don’t like spicy food at all, and most food I eat on a day to day basis isn’t spicy, although my version of mild may be medium to you. As you note, there are a million types, so it’s not that the hot sauce drowns out the flavor of the food but rather complements it. Indian, Thai, and Mexican food are all spicy and they are complex and delicious. The people who just try to tolerate the highest heat level they can are just a small subset of people who brag about crap on the internet.

  30. I’m of Mexican descent. My people invented hot sauce and like 95% of my ethnic cuisine involves spice.

  31. I’m not sure where OP is from, but there are hot sauce obsessives everywhere, not just in the States. Here in the UK there are many stores both physical and online selling hundreds of varieties. I always have at least five different ones in rotation, with very different flavour profiles and heat levels.

    “Bragging” about spicy food is also a bit of a British cliché – think of the lads out for a curry, trying to outdo one another by eating the hottest dish, practically killing themselves with a phall.

  33. The mild pain that comes from spicy food triggers an overcompensation of endorphins, leading to pleasure. The question is whether you can tolerate the initial pain.

    Americans are generally accustomed to spicy food because Mexican (Tex-Mex) food is super mainstream. Tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc., are all things kids grow up on. And Mexican food tends to be spicy. So your palate is accustomed.

  34. To folks who think even one drop of hot sauce is excessive, putting a few dashes onto something might seem like a person “drowns” their food in it, but in reality, the only food that is ever “drowned” in hot sauce are chicken wings.

    And, no, those of us who like hot sauce on many items have not “burned out our taste buds” or “feel the need to put it on everything.” I have maybe a half dozen different sauces on hand right now (which, FYI, is a *small* collection for hot sauce lovers), but don’t put any hot sauce on broccoli, brussels sprouts, cheesecake, etc.

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