
Diners who hate spicy food feel ‘heat shamed’ by restaurants — why is it a crime to skip the sriracha?
NY Post
For some, the spice ain’t nice.
Throughout her life, Jennifer Allerot, 53, has ordered the spiciest foods on the menu whenever she ate at a restaurant — until she developed a stomach ulcer four years ago.
“I used to devour curry, but I can’t eat it anymore,” Allerot, an accountant in Morristown, New Jersey, told The Post. “If I even get a taste of something spicy on my tongue, my stomach is, like, ‘Oh, no,’ and I have to reach for a Tums immediately to stop the pain.”
These days, it’s become a hot trend to spike the seasonings as the “heat” quotient in every restaurant dish seems to be through the roof. Case in point: Tongue-tingly meals sporting chili pepper illustrations are dominating menus, flaming hot sauces are gracing tabletops, and fast-food restaurants like Wendy’s just upped the ante with their a Cajun Crunch Chicken Sandwich.
And it’s a badge of honor for celebrities to wolf down extra-hot foods on “Hot Ones,” a YouTube show watched by millions — plus, there was last year’s sriracha shortage.
At the same time, spice-averse diners have come under fire for giving waiters the third degree about how searing a dish is.
