Toma? Vargazon
Let’s talk about capsaicin , the stuff that makes foods taste spicy.

讓我們來談談辣椒素，這種物質使食物嘗起來很辣。
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We need to discuss two issues, the first is why it’s so omnipresent in Indian food and why people unused to spicy tastes don’t like it. Capsaicin tastes hot because it, by a quirk of random chance, binds to our heat receptors and lowers the treshold for “hot” signal. In effect it acts as a jammer and causes the sensation of “hot” to fire at normal body temperatures. The heat you feel when eating spicy foods is just your senses misfiring, because of an otherwise harmless chemical. You aren’t being burned or anything, you’re experiencing the sensation of being burnt at normal temperatures already. Clearly not everyone wants to have the feeling of having liquid silver poured into their mouth, then come out the other side a day or so later. These people don’t enjoy spicy foods, obviously.

這里有兩個問題需要討論，第一個是為什么在印度食物中如此普遍，以及為什么不習慣辛辣口味的人不喜歡它。辣椒素因為一種偶然的機遇，與我們的熱感受器結合，降低了“辣”的信號閾值，所以嘗起來很辣。實際上，它起到了干擾器的作用，使得在正常體溫下產(chǎn)生“辣”的感覺。吃辛辣食物時感受到的熱量只是你的感官誤導了，因為這是一種無害的化學物質。你并沒有被燒傷或其他什么，你只是在正常的溫度下經(jīng)歷著被燒傷的感覺。顯然，并不是每個人都想感受到液態(tài)銀被倒進口中，然后一兩天后再從另一端出來的感覺。這些人顯然不喜歡辛辣食物。

Now as to why it’s so present in India and elsewhere. That’s because of its biological function in plants, it’s an antimicrobial agent. Capsaicin defends plans against microbal infections and, since microbes that devour plants aren’t that different from microbes that devour meat, marinating meat in capsaicin-rich marinade protects it from rotting. That’s why Indian food are so commonly meats marinated in a spicy sauce, it’s a way to keep meat edible over a prolonged period of time without refrigiration. In Europe ice was available every year but spicy plants weren’t. Indians used chemical means instead.

現(xiàn)在來談談為什么它在印度和其他地方如此普遍。這是因為在植物中它具有生物學功能，它是一種抗微生物劑。辣椒素能保護植物免受微生物感染，而且，由于吃植物的微生物與吃肉的微生物并沒有太大區(qū)別，所以在富含辣椒素的腌料中腌制肉類可以防止腐爛。這就是為什么印度食物中經(jīng)常有用辛辣醬腌制的肉類，這是一種在不需要冷藏的情況下延長肉類可食用期的方法。在歐洲，每年都有冰，但是辛辣植物卻不常見。印度人選擇了化學手段。

That’s why Indian cuisine is spicy and that’s why most Europeans are not used of it. Some love it though, I personally like my food to be a little spicy at times, when used correctly it adds enormously to flavor. There are plenty of people who consider spices to “mask” the flavor of the dish, then use salt freely. Salt does the same thing to the dish as capsaicin does. Adding aromatic spices is no different sauteeing onions before adding meat to the pan. It’s just a different approach to accomplish the same thing: creating an enjoyable dish.

這就是為什么印度菜很辣，也是為什么大多數(shù)歐洲人不習慣辣味的原因。然而，有些人卻很喜歡，我個人有時候也喜歡我的食物稍微辣一點，當辣椒素被正確使用時，它可以極大地增添風味。有很多人認為香料會“掩蓋”菜肴的味道，所以會自由使用鹽。鹽對菜肴的作用與辣椒素相似。添加芳香的香料和在鍋里加肉之前先炒洋蔥是沒有什么區(qū)別的。只是采用了不同的方法來實現(xiàn)同樣的目標：創(chuàng)造一個美味的菜肴。