>Space opera setting.
>Turns out humans in this setting are highly tolerant to spicy foods compared to everyone else.
>This means that anything that would be considered mild to us is considered VERY spicy to aliens, while something that we would consider spicy would cause them to flat out vomit or even be seen as a light poison.
How does this impact the setting?
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After a few embarrassing diplomatic incidents, everyone has a quick sitdown and realizes that different species have different dietary needs?
I mean this isn't rocket science user
this, but military grade pepper spray is probably a warcrime. (we still have lots of it in production.)
Not at all unless you go full HFY retard with it. Alien food being disgusting or toxic is already a given, and that goes both ways.
It's only a warcrime AFTER all the United Planets ratify the Space Geneva Conventions
It means no one steals your lunch from the office fridge
Considering that it's activating pain pathways? And that capsaicin(and other volatile oils) are not THAT common on most earth foods? It'll probably be extremely painful and cause a lot of diplomatic issues(as aliens will probably think we're poisoning them....in a very unsubtle way). It's probably not that much of an issue EXCEPT when aliens are visiting human space stations and the like.
Remember: A lack of gravity and fresh air tends to make food tasteless: So astronauts tend to pile on the salsa and hot sauce and the like. It probably means that aliens LOATHE going onto human space stations and stuff.
This can be reasonably solved by treating capsaicin content like any other human food allergy. Which is a common sense measure if you're having to supply nutrition to a number of races: You're probably going to either go hyper-bland and have tons of optional(possibly toxic to some races) condiments and sauces, or you're going to pack out highly individualized meals for a number of races.
>It'll probably be extremely painful
For who? It's already extremely painful for most humans.
Technically all peppers are poisonous to mammals already. The reason peppers are spicy to is us is that peppers evolved to be eaten by birds and have there seeds survive digestion and be pooped out some where far away. The spiciness is a defense mechanism that is supposed to dissuade non-birds from eating the peppers. The birds can't taste the spiciness. Think about what happens when you eat a habenero or jalepeno. You get sweaty, teary eyed, and have the shits the next day. Just like a low grade poison.
Also if you think a habenero isn't spicy have some habenero sauce go up your nose and then we'll talk. also this isn't a dick swinging contest
Right, but the initial premise was that human reactions are actually a CONSIDERABLY HIGH tolerance to capsaicin.
So you'd expect aliens to react like they'd just swallowed pepper spray.
Habanero doesn't hurt going down: The hurt sets in while it rests in you, and then goes all-out on exit. Shit's sinister.
>Alien bartender tries to bring in human customers by serving spicy dishes
>Misunderstands what spicy food is made out of
>"I'm glad you like it! I made it out of an herb shipped straight from Terra, I think it's called 'stinging nettles'?"
Humans already eat stinging nettles, though. That's like a traditional folk food in parts of the world.
And you can make tea and beer out of it, too.
All you have to do is steam them.
>So you'd expect aliens to react like they'd just swallowed pepper spray.
Yeah but after the first few food poisoning cases they'd take better care. Probably have properly marked menu items and stuff like that.
>Habaneros are spicy
I mean, I guess.
I do have a retarded high pain tolerance so that may be the reason why
You can make extremely mild tear gas that will overpower the aliens, but humans will be completely immune to it.
Wait what really?
is it good?
>For who?
For You
tastes like spinach, and is very nutritious, actually
>How does this impact the setting?
Unless you ignore all intergalactic diplomatic advice and serve the people of Cow Moon 9 burgers and cheese, it is assumed you have a chef or staff worker that takes allergens and spice tolerance into consideration.
I mean shit, we got chefs and staff now that bend backwards worldwide to ensure that visiting heads of state aren't triggered by food allergens, is it so hard to imagine space opera setting chefs and staff can't do the same thing?
>Habeneros aren't spicy
What are talking about. They are one of the top tier peppers that isn't some ranmdom crossbreed going for world's hottest chill TM.
Quit trying to be johnny big dick.
>tastes like spinach
>is nutritious
So no, it's not good
People love to shit on habanero's because they're commonly available and not as hot as the franken peppers
Be careful, anti-HFYfags will sperg out and flood the thread if they think you're painting humans as unusual in any way.
>Humanity Fuck Yeah: We can eat Nacho's and Hotwings
Truly we are the most glorious of races, chosen by the Universal god
Fuck I am hungry
>>tastes like spinach
>>is nutritious
>So no, it's not good
Know how I know you're fat?
Those of us who are resistant to pepper spray are considered mythical berserkers. That being said, if spicy shit is that detrimental to these races I get the feeling other shit is too.
Yeah, but they probably use arsenic as flavouring or something.
The Spice Wars.
What if it also applies to sweetness? Then basically everything on our planet that isn't bland would cause people to vomit.
Hah
If you look at your own chart, you can see that the two of you could be talking about experiences with WILDLY different Habeneros. The Red Savina is nuts. The Tabasco Sauce Habanero? Eh, not so much.
>Peace talks break down completely after the Earth Ambassador offers the Zorblaxian Premier a homemade cupcake
...
>Peace talks break down after Texas senator offers Indian diplomat a home-cooked steak
Hmm, it's almost like you would want to have some sort of person on staff who would clear up any potential stupid gifts that could be seen as an insult
Are dried peppers hotter?
For after peace talks? Sure.
But shit is going to go south initially if we don't know how sensitive ayys are to our sweet and sour.
In an ideal world, you would have that. But there are constant diplomatic snafus even between human cultures.
Like remember when George Bush Sr. tendered a deadly insult to the Thai Queen by crossing his legs with his foot pointed at her? It was smoothed over, but cross-cultural mishaps are difficult to avoid.
Also the Earth Ambassador in this scenario is 9 years old
>Nacho's and Hotwings
Why would you do this to me at 12 pm
>Earth Ambassador is 9
so is this a Disney Channel original series or Nickelodeon original series?
Given I enjoy food, I would be kinda proud about stuff like this. Inferior aliens, can't really enjoy the variety of tastes I can!
The caveat, I don't really like spicy food. "Spicy" isn't a flavor, it's just burning. Can, when used carefully enhance the flavor but on its own it does nothing but is unpleasant.
With aliens, I suspect such situations wouldn't take place. With humans, most diplomatic oh-shit moments are a matter of cultural and religious differences people forget about. In case of aliens, everyone would be likely very aware of quite different biology and no consumables would be likely exchanged without thorough check beforehand for compatibility.
I like the idea for stuff like more adventurous alien species buying stuff like mustard and adding it to the food as a dare, while outright spicy stuff like peppers when sold on space stations and in other multiracial location require one to show ID, with blurb about potential health hazard printed on every package.
It also reminds me of that sci-fi setting, I think it was in a book, where regular flavorful stuff like smoked cheese was so rich compared to regular bland diet of some alien specie that it became drug-like contraband.
>can't really enjoy the variety of tastes I can!
It may be the opposite, humans can eat spicy food because our taste receptors are so inarticulate and lack sensitivity.
Saying you like the taste of healthy food because it's healthy is just as much a front as people bragging about not being effected by spice.
It's important to note, taste is a mechanism that exists so we can discern what foods are good and productive for us to eat. Any reward mechanism we derive from that is cultural. What aliens "taste" if anything at all, will depend strongly on their environments and needs.
Making it more of a mess, you can't really establish, base line, what something "tastes" like. What is 'salty'? What does 'salt' taste like to you? We can describe the level of sodium content, the chemical reactions when it touches our mouths, explain what it's used for in the body and why it's necessary, etc.
But you still cannot describe what salty tastes like, because only you can perceive your senses. This is why solipsism exists.
Solipsism exists because people are retarded and believe retarded shit.
It might be cultural thing but I'd assume everyone would be on the level playing field in regards to that chart and talk about the plain old habenero but then again I did order "Habenero-mango" hot wings at a bar the other day and they were less spicy than watered down tabasco. So you might be right.
...
more sugar in the mango sauce prob. Scoville scale is a measure of how many units of sugar water is necessary to neutralize the heat, after all
UUUU
But spinach isn't bad it's just bland, like all foods you just have to pair it with things or just saute it in some butter if you're a american
>Spinach + butter
I get you guys don't think highly of American food but give us at least a little credit. We're not animals.
So basically the way every other ethnicity sees white people?
Veeky Forums memes aside, what I'd really take away from this is that there's going to be a huge nature-not-nurture component. Remember, capsaicin wasn't available for ANY old world population, whether English or Thais, Swedish or Indians, until after 1492; we don't have an evolved resistance, we have a trained taste.
So now, suddenly, you've got entire ayyyylmao cuisines being revolutionized by this new flavor which traditionalists loathe - or alternatively, the ayyyylmaos have actually evolved to favor standardized flavors over a variety, ie developed agriculture tens of thousands of generations ago rather than a few hundred, which means either an exceptionally old culture or a symbiotic relationship with their main crop.
What? Spinach sautéed with garlic and butter is perfectly good.
You now know why other countries think Murrikans are barbarians and philistines.
Spinach and butter is an established combination, to the point where it's weird where I live if you don't add a bit.
If you reject healthy foods because you don't like them, then reject the tasty ways of eating them because "durr it's unfamiliar/gross-sounding", no wonder Americans have a well-deserved reputation for being overweight manchildren.
>spicy
>painfull
mexican food is food of gods, the more hot shit the better
> Literally everyone bragging about their tolerance for spicy foods
Yeah, nettles are pretty common. As soon as they're cooked they lose their sting and taste like stronger spinach.
I fucking missed 'saute.' I thought you guys just meant get some fresh spinach and slather butter on it.
Besides that I just can't stand the taste of the stuff. It tastes bitter to me even though everyone I know insists it isn't.
Oh man, the farts from my ghost pepper chips would be considered biological warfare.
It won't be the opposite - it may be because of their greater sensitivity, yes, but they still won't be able to enjoy the variety of tastes I can.
>Thinly veiled "Earth is a Deathworld" thread
Don't blame you OP, those threads are comfy.
So you Azblastins know that humans, get this, HUMANS eat this root-thing called Ginger, that if left in their mouths for too long, will actually cause blistering! They flavor food with it! That's not all, they have this stuff called "mustard" that they grow and can actually turn into a gas, that can kill, AND THEY FLAVOR FOOD WITH THAT AS WELL!
And don't even get me started on those strange beasts they call call "spiders".
Really? Man, I already knew they're some death-eaters, just didn't know how much. I mean, should've expected that from a species from the world where majority of life is based on consuming and even living in a basic solvent.
Op, there's many subtle substances that can be considered spicy that people rarely see as such. Some shitty teen's Old Spice dispenser would be considered a defensive weapon by these aliens, just saying.
One of the mandates for dealing with those aliens diplomatically would be that only flower scented deodorizers could be used
This, if the ayys are advanced enough to go to space but not enough to expect an alien species to be well... alien and try to learn about each other before expecting any kind of ettiquette they're a bunch of idiots and displomatic incidents are bound to happen eventually.
So not much after first contact but since astronauts love thier sauces, you'd have a bottle of it on each table in human watering holes. Makes for a neat improvised weapon in a bar fight. Good lore flavour, not much impact on the grand scheme of things.
>misunderstanding about mustard gas
yes, good thinking
"Man"? How dare you call me that, human language really is an infectious disease. They've got you so brainwashed that I bet you refer to acts of compassion as "humane".
I just bet you love Earth with its horrid beats called "scorpions", did you know that they even genetically modify those deathfruits they call peppers (FOR FUN) and named one that's apparently so hot it could boil the mouth of Coxilite after one of those things?
>Implying an alien would understand what mustard gas actually is
If they can't handle spicy shit, I shudder to think what will happen when they experience human body odor. Thankfully, in a space opera setting, ships are more then likely sterilized so getting BO would be difficult.
>if spicy shit is that detrimental to these races I get the feeling other shit is too.
Well, maybe. Have you ever seen someone from the midwest try to eat Mexican food? Because I've met dozens of people who literally turn red, choke, spit out food, hyperventilate, or even throw up trying to eat, like, scrambled eggs with a dash of tabasco. Your tolerance to spicy food is largely just what you grew up with.
Sorry, humans rub off my exoskeleton.
It's not even just certain fruits. They have whole subspecies which voluntarily declared that their cuisine is meant to be based upon such ingredients and that lack of "spicyness" is a regrettable flaw in a dish.
White people aren't the same species as everyone else
Youre right
we are the only real humans
Any HFY is retarded.
As far as I know, mexicans don't even eat that spicy, it's the american interpretation of mexican cooking that adds a shitload of peppers and tabasco because it's "exotic"
You wanna know real pain? Go eat in Africa
The people in Ivory Coast or Senegal are fucking bonkers about spicy shit
I once ate a fish stew that I felt for half a week
You guys must love NU MEN ERA
Not true, I'm fyat but I love greens.
Its proper excercise and not eating two portions per meal that's the real criminal.
Well its not that alien, birds and marine life cant taste anything and like food for their texture, and the taste buds are highly changeable. Theres a berry that can make sour taste sweet and vice versa.