I find this thread very interesting because I've been slowly trying to build up a better tolerance for heat, as I have never been a fan of capsaicin. There are some kinds of heat I tolerate well - for instance, I like kimchi - reasonably hot by anybody's standards, right? I don't, however, like Indian food because although the heat seems less, it builds and builds as you eat the food. I'd divide most hot cuisines into these two categories: the one-two punch (which I can take in small doses) or the slow burn (which I don't like) Anybody else find this distinction?

I'd make a third distinction - the horseradish/wasabi type of heat that comes on strong for a second, then dissipates quickly. I probably prefer that to the more long-lasting hears (although the latter may force me to drink more beer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

Is it possible that I might find one cuisine hot and another not quite as hot and another person might have the opposite reaction? And, there is the full body sweating, nose running, crying reaction that I get from some food, and the mouth sting that other food causes. Maybe I have more of a tolerance for one kind of spicy than another? And, which is hotter - a body-sweat heat or a mouth-burn heat (if this is a useful distinction)?

And, there is the question of how prevalent spicy food is within a culture. Are most dishes spicy or are there the few standout spicy dishes and then mostly not spicy dishes?

I don't tend to find Korean food particularly hot but I might not be eating at the right places. It is spicy but it doesn't cause me to sweat and it doesn't sting my tongue. (tell me what I should try for better results!!)

I've had Szechuan food (in the US) that makes me sweat, cry, and beg for mercy (but it hasn't had this effect at Lao Sze Chuan, by the way). I could actually feel it burning a path along my digestive tract. Hard to explain why I still loved it.

I've also had some food in India that was shockingly hot but I haven't been able to reproduce that experience in the US. I would love to try some Sri Lankan food. (any good options in Chicago?)

Padang food (Sumatra) and food from Menado (Sulawesi) are both pretty spicy, in my experience. Lots of chile paste that can be added to the food to make it even hotter. I had some duck with green chile sauce outside of Bukittingi in West Sumatra that was stingingly hot. The food in Bali didn't seem to be as spicy and Javanese food seems even less spicy. (by the way, Padang Sate doesn't use peanuts at all. The sauce is greenish yellow, if memory serves. I don't know what the sauce is made of, though.)

I've only had Thai food in the US and it usually doesn't blow my head off with some notable exceptions. When it is spicy, it seems to be more of the mouth-stinging variety (for me).

My Guinean friends use habaneros pretty freely so the Guinean food that I've had is pretty hot.

Like JoelF, the hottest food I've ever eaten was also in Minneapolis at a Sri Lankan restaurant--Sri Lanka Curry House on Hennepin. Now closed.

I always thought the popularity of spicy foods in some cultures was climate related, i.e., the cooling effect achieved by perspiring in response to the capsaicin.

Granted, that doesn't explain spicy Korean food.

But I'm not convinced about the pathogen/preservation theory. There are many countries far away from the Equator that are as poor as those near it, but that don't have a hot, spicy cuisine.