The World's Best Spicy Food by Lonely Planet Food

Soon I was splashing this beautiful Louisiana hot sauce over everything that was put before me, from toast and egg to steak and shepherd’s pie. One drop of Tabasco sauce, and I’ve never looked back. My sister, of course, was sheet-white and trembling with fear, convinced she was the architect of her brother’s demise. But my whole body was enveloped in a warm glow. Sure, my tongue still throbbed and my lips smarted too. The light seemed somehow brighter, every colour suddenly more vivid. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the agony abated. I fell to the floor, clutching my belly, convinced that this damned liquid, this evil draught, was noxious poison, the killer of small boys.

It was worse than stinging nettles and grazed knees and the slap of a cold football on rain-drenched flesh. My eyes brimmed with tears and I tried to scream but to no avail.

Much ado about nothing.Īnd then it hit – a fierce, brutally burning sensation that started in my mouth before spreading, like a raging forest fire, across my lips and down into my throat. The first taste was sharp but not unpleasant, like the vinegar that we splashed on our chips. So I closed my eyes tight, and plunged my tongue into the unknown. “Go on, try it,” my sister implored, her eyes glittering with glee. It started with a drop, beguilingly red and devilishly scented, poured from a small, elegant bottle onto the back of my hand.

The World's Best Spicy Food by Lonely Planet Food