spicy food reviews
now that's a-spicy meeatball

back in 2021 i started training myself to tolerate and enjoy spicy foods. i don't know why, i might just be a bit of a masochist (not might... i am) and it ended up becoming a hobby of mine.

where i live spicy food is not common, so i get my hands on special or limited editions and i try them, and i tought i'd share my experiences here.

the foods are presented from most recently tried to oldest, and if i revisit a food there will be and update on that section.

now, i never reviewed food, so i'm sorry if this is a bit clumsy, but i hope you enjoy my mild suffering :)

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Like i wasn't expecting what i got from the flaming hot ruffles, I want expecting the flaming hot Doritos to be such a disappointment. A standard had been set by the ruffles, and it appears I placed the bar too high.

I actually bought the flaming hot Doritos by mistake, not looking too carefully at the packaging. But I thought "might as well try them, maybe they're also good"

I've eaten my fair share of Doritos - tex-mex, nacho cheese, cool ranch, chili, bbq, I even had a stint with the Doritos' bits during my time as a broke college student (sometimes it was my whole meal) - and, admit idly, I was never a big fan, but I was really hoping these would be good after trying their ruffles counterpart. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

They were spicy alright, however not nearly as much as the ruffles, and the spice didn't build up as much as you kept eating them. The flaming hot flavoring powder they come coated in might be their only saving grace, because even beneath all that seasoning, it came down to a flavourless fried corn chip. And I really like a good corn chip and corn in general. I'd dare say the normal chili flavor is more pleasant than this.

Obviously, this was not a good experience and I came out of it feeling I wasted money (broke college student habits die hard). Maybe I am biased against big Dorito, but I don't believe that to be the case, since I tried the pack with a friend, and we shared pretty much the same opinion: surprisingly underwhelming.

Perhaps paired with a dip - a spicy salsa, guacamole, garlic mayo or Doritos own spicy dip? - these would be better? But somehow I doubt it. You'd be better off buying regular tortilla chips.

As for the flaming hot advertised, like I previously said, definitely go with the ruffles.

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I must say, i wasn't expecting what i got from these. the first bite doesn't seem like much, it's underwhelmingly spicy, but it's ruffles so it's good. Nevertheless, you keep eating, and oop! What was that? You keep eating more, and more of the chips, and the spice builds up! Quite fast, actually.

Aside from the spiciness, i think the base are the original ruffles, as they do not have much flavor, but it wasn't a problem for me. The build up of spice and the flaming hot powder coating the chip (whatever it is) was enough for me to enjoy them.

I find myself craving these many times. To buy them i have to go to an Indian shop close to my house (they carry a lot of limited editions for some reason), but i am always happy to get back home, sit down and enjoy them with a cup of coke.

The flaming hot ruffles have become a comfort food for me, and I'll certainly be sad when they disappear from shelves...

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Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire! I was feeling particularly courageous the day i tried da bomb. I ate a good amount of it too.

I tried the sauce alongside a family dish brought back from Mozambique - oven grilled shrimp, decorated with green pepper and marinated in beer (in Mozambique it was Laurentina beer), a little milk and the shrimp themselves are seasoned by having a mixture of spices and sauces inserted into their heads after arranged, typically containing a small amount of chili peppers.

The dish itself is already a bit too spicy for the non masochists, but for eternal sufferers (like me and my uncle) something was missing. My uncle brought out da bomb. I already knew the sauce from the web series hot ones, and i knew it was at da bomb that things kicked up a notch. So, naturally, i wanted to test myself.

As per custom on the hot ones, i dropped a healthy dab of the sauce onto the side of my plate, and proceeded to coat my next shrimp in it. Boy oh boy!

Like everything, there is a method to the madness, my first try left me sweating under my eyes, and sniffling like crazy, the back of my throat burning. However, this is easy to avoid by letting the food with the sauce sit a little bit longer in your mouth, letting the capsaicin take action there, feeling the spice in your mouth before you swallow. This way i learned to avoid the throat burning. After i realized this, me and my uncle (already privy to the ways of the spiciness) very much enjoyed the sauce, and i even finished my puddle of it.

Flavor wise, there is some, but the spiciness overpowers it, so i'd recommend pairing it with foods that are already well seasoned and very flavorful.

10/10 would actually sweat from my eyes again.

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First truly spicy thing i ate. The first time I ate it it made me laugh and cry in pain.

The flavour is good (as in all other koka noodles, although i do add my own spices and soy sauce to the broth), unfortunately this is one of those cases where the spice just hurts and adds nothing to the flavour.

Still, i cotinued eating it over a few weeks because i was a broke college student, and before inflation these were 0.69 cents (nice!), and at some point, the hurt of spice stopped bothering me and became kind of pleasent actually. my flatmate at the time couldn't finish his broth so i drank it for him for the extra spicy hurty hurty yum yum.

i'd assume, if you are a spice veteran this wouldnt bother you at all, maybe a tingle on the tongue, but for newbies like me at the time, it was quite the experience! but i had a lot of good meals and fun with these noodles, mainly of me and my flat mate struggling, crying, sniffling and laughing, competing for who'd finish their bowl first. brings back good memories!

i will revisit these soon so stay tuned for an update.