What’s the difference between hot and spicy?
In: Biology
As an Indian, I typically call food hot when it is loaded with red pepper, jalepeno, etc which have capsaicin acid which triggers your heat receptors.
Then there’s a whole chunk of foods that I call “spicy” which contain a bunch of spices coming from various herbs such as black pepper, cardamom, etc.
Spicy food isn’t always hot, and there are various sweet preparations loaded with spices (masala tea for example). It is more complex in taste and aroma. Hot food is typically unidirectionally spicy, and you need a tub of yogurt or bottle of water to help chug the food down.
Microwaved a hot pocket and now it’s hot. But it’s Ham and cheese so it’s not spicy. Take a habanero pepper out of the fridge and take a bite. Might not be hot, it’s actually cold in fact, but it sure is spicy!
Like semantically/linguistically or biologically?
Many people will say “hot” when they mean spicy. Spicy would be something like curry or hot sauce. Hot usually just means warm temperature, but as I said, many people will say hot in place if spicy.
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