by Mark of Going Like Sixty

Somebody and/or something is changing.  My wife, Nancy, left Thursday on a knitting/fiber jaunt.  She’ll return soon, but in the meantime, she made up a crockpot full of chili for me to eat.   Otherwise she knows it will be Miller Chill and M & M’s.  We had a bowl before she left and I told her since she can’t handle the spiciness anymore, I was going to spice up the chili for me.  She dug out a can of chili peppers and I dumped them in the crock pot.  It simmered all day Friday.  Yum.  I added some Louisana hot sauce.  More yum.  The chili made my nose run and I coughed a couple times, but it was gooo-oood.

I told my daughter what I had done and she was flabbergasted. She said my taste has changed.  She is right.  I didn’t like spicy food when she was around. Except for horseradish sauce. I’ve always love horseradish sauce.  But I’m eating  a lot more spicy food now. and why was a mystery until today when AARP magazine arrived.

Lo and behold, I find out boomers are loving spicy food! Chili Pepper consumption is up from 4.7 lbs in 1998 to 6.3 lbs in 2007 according to the magazine – per person!  Bold flavors are In! And midlifers are making them more Inner!

Our sense of smell is getting whacked and that affects our sense of taste, so this demand for hotness is only gonna heat up as we age.   AARP Magazine even pointed to Fiery Foods.com, which they claim is popular with guys over fifty.  Dave DeWitt, who writes on that site, is some kind of Chili/Spice expert and he claims:

The first thing [researchers] discovered was that many spices were incredibly antibacterial. For example, garlic, onion, allspice, and oregano were the best all-around microbe killers, killing almost everything. Next were thyme, cinnamon, tarragon, and cumin, which kill about 80 percent of all bacteria. Chile peppers were in the next group, with about a 75 percent kill rate. In the lower ranges of 25 percent were black pepper, ginger, and lime juice.
The new corollary of eating in the 21^st century might be: “The healthier you eat, the more you need to spice it up with chile-laden condiments.”

This stuff is good for you!  Who knew?  So how cool hot is that!

By the way, I’m only up to the Jalapeno stage right now, but I’ll be trying some of the hotter chili peppers when I get the chance.

And about those changes?  Either AARP magazine is becoming more relevant or I’m aging into it.  I’m thinking it’s both.