should kids eat spicy foods?

was sitting at Costco eating the disgustingly processed chicken bake. (i believe this item has something to the effect of 3K calories; bygones) when i noticed parents, slobby, delicate, fashionable, rich, poor or otherwise, were feeding kids hotdogs and Coke.

this got me thinking:
1) i hate kids
2) i don't want to teach a kid how to eat pizza
3) where would i be if my parents
a. disengaged me from spicy burning food
b. allowed me to consume caffeine at an even younger age. (alas, i am merely 'short', and i know, caffeine has never been proven to stunt bone growth yada yada).

recently, i heard on NPR spicy hot cheetos got BANNED in an LA elementary school. i mean.. this really ticks me off.. cuz i <3 spicy hot cheetos. i pop 'em til i feel nauseous... and they can give you the runs.... so i guess it was good it got banned?

does anyone know of actual medical evidence to support either side?

PS. the question in topic has an obvious "American" bias. from "googling" (sorry PIGMON): Indian children are fed a khitchri, a lentil/spicy porridge, Korean kids are often fed kimchi. I distinctly remeber being served the best "hong you chao sou" (ala Chengdu dumplings) at an "authentic" Szechuan restaurant during my kindergarten years.

You lost me on #1

TonyC wrote:i noticed parents, slobby, delicate, fashionable, rich, poor or otherwise, were feeding kids hotdogs and Coke.

2) i don't want to teach a kid how to eat pizza
3) where would i be if my parents
a. disengaged me from spicy burning food

the question in topic has an obvious "American" bias. from "googling" (sorry PIGMON): Indian children are fed a khitchri, a lentil/spicy porridge, Korean kids are often fed kimchi. I distinctly remeber being served the best "hong you chao sou" (ala Chengdu dumplings) at an "authentic" Szechuan restaurant during my kindergarten years.

I'm not sure you can draw any conclusions from what parents feed their kids at Costco. I mean, it's not as if there are a vast number of choices there. So why are they eating at Costco? Why were you?

I don't believe the issue about the hot Cheetos is that they're hot. It's that they're Cheetos, i.e. "junk food" and, according to the food police, will make you fat, which they believe a terrible fate.

Lots of American kids get fed spicy foods depending on where they grow up and what their family background is. Even growing up back in the 1970s eating a mix of routine American fare and relatively unpeppery Ashkenazi food (often garlicky, vinegary and tart but not spicy-hot) , I was exposed to hot pepperoni pizza, often sprinkled with crushed red pepper; several Mitteleuropean paprika-laced preparations; and pickled peppers of varying levels of heat.

Today, I'd guess most American kids get an exposure to Mexican and Italian spicy flavors at a minimum, even if it comes from Taco Bell and Olive Garden.

TonyC wrote:PS. the question in topic has an obvious "American" bias. from "googling" (sorry PIGMON): Indian children are fed a khitchri, a lentil/spicy porridge, Korean kids are often fed kimchi. I distinctly remeber being served the best "hong you chao sou" (ala Chengdu dumplings) at an "authentic" Szechuan restaurant during my kindergarten years.

David Hammond wrote:You lost me on #1

And you lost me on your need to apologize for Googling these non-subjective cultural facts.

Kids eating hot dogs and drinking pop at Costco reminds me of my dad bringing us to Hi-Low Foods on Greenbay in Evanston for ten cent hot dogs and nickel sodas. He fed my brothers and I for under a dollar and we couldn't have been happier.

Is the issue here whether or not "hot" or spicy foods could be injurious to the gastro-track of children?

I posed much the same question to my gastroenterologist a while back and she said that children grow up all over the world eating hot, spicy foods and it apparently does them no harm. Chilis, especially, are full of vitamin C. Our stomachs are filled with acid for the digestive process and yet it seldom does any harm to the lining of the stomach itself (except in the case of ulcers & that's another story).

I myself have seen small Mexican children munching on pickled jalapenos like they were a cucumber or something. They said they crave the heat from them--much in the same way kids here love those hot Cheetos.

So I would think that when people have digestive problems like gastric reflux or gas, the problem probably doesn't stem from the relative piquantness of their food.

My younger daughter's eyes light up when you mention spicy food. As a toddler, she would go with us to our favorite mexican restaurant, where she would dip the same chip into their very spicy salsa -- over and over again, sucking the salsa off the chip until the chip disintegrated. Then she would take another and start again. I've seen her ingest food containing habaneros that would make a grown man cry. Doesn't seem to affect her adversely.

Suzy

Artemesia wrote:So I would think that when people have digestive problems like gastric reflux or gas, the problem probably doesn't stem from the relative piquantness of their food.

The doctors told me that I had to change my diet when I started to suffer GERD back in 1999. No spicy, no caffeine, etc.

I quit my job in Cleveland, moved to Chicago and doubled my intake of chili peppers and caffeine and have never had another GERD attack.

And have saved $5 a month on Rolaids.

I, too, suffer from GERD, but my doctor explained that it was because the sphincter muscle at the junction of the esophagus and stomach becomes less efficient as we age, and also because of a variety of other factors. I continue to enjoy chilis and don't find that my GERD acts up more from eating hot foods than most other foods. In fact, chocolate is on the list of foods that make the esophageal sphincter relax, and I'm not giving that up!

I find that just staying upright (not reclining after a meal), and eating smaller amounts of food helps lessen my GERD as much as anything.

TonyC,

I am not sure what your point is..parents shouldn't feed their kids junk food (hot dogs and soda?) or parents should feed a variety (including spicy and flavorful foods) or that the food at Costco is awful?

I would agree on all three of these points...that said, most parents I know
manage to feed their kids a variety (my husband anjoys telling the story of my soup fiend 1 year old drinking tom yum kai while the Thai waitress worried that the babies in Thailand don't eat that, it's too spicy) while allowing an occasional hot dog (not many other food choices at Wrigley, and at least she doesn't eat ketchup on them) and after dragging through Costco and waiting in a very long checkout line, is it so horrible to buy a $2 pizza slice to placate an anxious toddler?

Pardon the run-on sentence, but this is life with kids. Non-stop. Making the best food decisions we can, along with all the other ones.

I don't believe the issue about the hot Cheetos is that they're hot. It's that they're Cheetos, i.e. "junk food" and, according to the food police, will make you fat, which they believe a terrible fate.

One of my teacher friends said the real reason for the ban is the damage to textbooks caused by the red powder used in flamin' hots. for some reason, it stains worse than the regular fluorescent orange.

Which is really a shame, because what better bag lunch is there than a peanut butter and sliced apple sandwich with a side of flamin' hot cheetos?

HI,

When I was 8 years old, my Dad was gifted by a co-worker with peppers fresh from the garden in a wide range of colors. My baby sister was very intrigued and made many efforts to grasp the peppers. In a moment of grandiose stupidity, I handed the baby the pepper who immediately put it in her month, then let out a scream. I got quite a spanking for that one. For a while it wasn't clear who was crying louder: her or I.

This same sister is married to an Indian from India. She and her husband regularly eat foods with a higher level of heat than I personally tolerate. I am not quite sure if their 3-year-old daughter eats their food.

***

When I was a kid, strong flavors like cooked spinach were quite unpleasant to me. I later read my reaction was quite typical because young children have far more sensitive taste buds. In a sense I grew into liking spinach.

Yet I have seen a 3 year old eat rotted shark as-is without benefit of black death (a schnapps variant) to quench the ammonia smell. Her Grandmother and Mother claimed this little girl had been eating rotted shark forever without any qualms. Perhaps this is an example of conditioning?

***

Tony,

In regards to hating kids. I have found I love the kids who are related by DNA to me. I often like the kids of my friends and acquaintances. When you get beyond DNA and familiarity, then I find my interest wanes considerably bordering on dislike if there is an especially disagreeable specimen running about. In general, I do like kids.

Regards,