Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly.
Together today with Nyo Hong Lin and Yusha.
Coming up, as America's love affair with spicy food deepens from ghost pepper snacks to habanero-laced cocktails, how does this newfound heat measure up against the sophisticated, centuries-old fire of China's Sichuan and Hunan cuisines?
After that, we have another audio clip for Roundtable's Heart to Heart.
Please send those our way.
You can find us at roundtablepodcast at qq.com, or you can send those to roundtablepodcast table podcast at qq.com why because we really really really love hearing them and you can send a voice note with any of the things discussing any of the things that we talk about here on the show and if you're looking for the show you can find us at round table china on apple podcasts and now America's food culture, and Canada's food culture, I think we can throw Canada into this as well, has long been known as being mild and, dare I say, bland.
But a new trend is setting the culinary world on fire.
From restaurant menus to home kitchens, chili peppers and bold flavors are appearing everywhere.
Is it a shift?
Is it a fad?
Is it a reflection of a change, a deeper change in people's palates?
There's some interesting history behind it.
behind the previous aversion to heat that we'll talk about briefly.
And I think it's interesting, too, what's driving this new obsession, as well as kind of the fascinating science behind why we crave the burn of spicy food, when sometimes, some days, you just want that heat so badly, and also how food companies are adapting to people's changing palates, too.
Lots to discuss, but straight to it.
I'm from Canada, Yushan, you're from China, but I'll ask you, why is Western food so bland?
Well, thanks for asking.