20 Funny Stories Of People Who Have The Lowest Spice Tolerance

In Asian countries, spice is considered life. However, that’s also probably why many Asians suffer gastronomical ulcers that cause intense pain in their latter years. However, it still has its merits and can add a lot of flavour to any dish and some spices are even healthy for the human body. Indeed, everything should be in moderation and spice is definitely one of those things that are not good for you in large quantities. 

#1

Image source: TerribleAttitude, Kai Pilger

I’ve seen someone argue that bell peppers are spicy.

Not black pepper. *Bell pepper.* Which are a kind of sweet pepper with zero Scoville units. They aren’t even tart or acidic.

Edit: to everyone going “no they’re spicy,” get tested for an allergy. To everyone going “they are bitter,” bitter is a different flavor than spicy. To everyone going “but I don’t like them,” you can dislike things that aren’t spicy.

Edit 2: I’m eating a bell pepper for lunch and they’re still not spicy, you weirdos.

#2

Image source: NecroJoe, Quang Nguyen Vinh

Someone at work brought in some fresh-picked oranges from a tree in their yard.

Another employee cut one up and took a bite. “Ooh, sweet….sweet!”, she said with surprise. Then her eyes got real big, and she started acting like she had just eaten a hot pepper, but shouting, “Sweet! Too sweet!” while taking deep breaths while chewing with her mouth open, fanning her open mouth with her hands. As she was finishing chewing her bite of orange, she rushed over to the water cooler, and chugged several small cups of water like she was trying to sooth her sweeted-out mouth.

One of the weirded f****n’ things I’ve ever seen.

#3

Image source: Old_Army90, team voyas

My dad tastes garlic in everything, even if it doesn’t have garlic in it.

An example: I offered some of my macaroni salad to him. He takes a bite. “I can’t eat this, it’s too garlicky.” No garlic.

#4

Image source: -Firestar-, Victoria Shes

Mom can’t eat anything spicier than ketchup. I grew up on very very bland food

#5

Image source: Less-Web4990, Julia Filirovska

My mom thinks fries with a normal amount of salt and pepper is too spicy

#6

Image source: ambigulous_rainbow, Loren Castillo

Lemon and herb chicken at nandos was too spicy for them, they had to have plain.

#7

Image source: purplhouse, Immo Wegmann

My brother in law complained dinner was too spicy and, upon questioning, it was because he’d seen me dredge the chicken in flour before frying it.

Flour.

Flour was too spicy for him.

Edited to add: Since people are asking, no, he was not allergic to wheat. However, he was eventually diagnosed with IBS. He didn’t want to change his eating habits, however, so he continued to eat whatever and just blame ‘spicy food’ for flare-ups.

Apart from that, he was the kindest, sweetest, most generous and caring man I ever could have hoped to have join our family. He passed last October and we still miss him every day. I think he would find his fifteen minutes of Reddit fame to be extremely funny. Just thinking of him reading these comments makes me smile, so thank you for that, too.

#8

Image source: DETRITUS_TROLL, Tessa Rampersad

Had a kid immigrate from Poland to Colorado. We were making guacamole for a school class and he tasted it and immediately said it was too hot.

It was only avocados at that point, we hadn’t added anything else.

He ended up LOVING spicy food, but we never stopped giving him s**t for that…. good dude, hope he’s doing well for himself.

#9

Image source: _hotwifesteph, Engin Akyurt

One of my in laws sweats at the sheer smell of chilli, no ingestion involved.

#10

Image source: tsoert, Eva Bronzini

My wife. I once put the tiniest punch of cayenne in a chilli. I’m pretty sure it was 6 flakes at most. She ran screaming and flapping at her mouth to get water. Me and my brother couldn’t taste any spice at all. She still complains that things are spicy when all that’s in them is black pepper. Bless her. Her tolerance has improved a little since though. I can cook marginally spicy foods

#11

Image source: DoomDamsel, jeffreyw

I CAN ANSWER THIS.

I was married to this guy for awhile. His parents were VERY spice-adverse. I had never seen anything like it. I only actually visited their home once, because they lived in a state far away from us, and they usually visited us instead.

My ex-MIL was always going on about how many spices I had in my collection and how unnecessary it was. When I went to their house I found out she had a spice collection of: dehydrated onions, pepper, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. That was literally it. I didn’t even see cinnamon.

I went to pick up some fried fish once when we were there. Got the tartar sauce on the side.

His mother tried the tartar sauce and then said, I s**t you not, “Oh my, that has *some kick to it*”.

IT ABSOLUTELY DID NOT. IT WAS F*****G TARTAR SAUCE.

#12

Image source: MrSlipperyFist, Israel Albornoz

Honestly, myself once upon a time. I was a Nandos lemon and herb kind of person, and if you put even just the slightest hint of chilli in my food, I was dead. I grew up in a very “British” kind of food household, where meat and three vegetables was the norm. The concept of spice – not just of the hot variety, but *any* spice – was pretty unusual.

In 2016, I met my soon-to-be wife, who is from mainland China. Given her ethnicity, she obviously has a good spice tolerance, to say the least. And since we’re both more into veggies than meat, you’ve gotta do *something* with those veggies to make them taste nice. So, we could with *a lot* of spice – often things chilli, peppercorns and cumin.

It took time, but after six years living together, let me tell you: I can eat spicy food like a mainland-China person myself now. In fact, if my food *doesn’t* have spice these days, I find it pretty uninteresting. Sometimes I even find myself outdoing my fiance, and she’ll be reaching for her drink while I’m reaching for more food.

So the point is, you *can* better your spice tolerance. It takes time; but don’t think of it as some torturous process you need to undergo for no reason at all other than bragging rights. If you don’t have at least a “reasonable” spice tolerance, then you’ll be missing out on *a lot* of tasty food. So I think it’s worthwhile to at least push your boundaries slowly (but consistently, because the tolerance can leave faster than it was gained), and enjoy the discovery of a whole new world of food along the way.

#13

Image source: TzippyBird, Christina Rumpf

I have a mast cell disorder (the cells that release histamines) and one of my triggers is peppercorns. I am a total wimp when it comes to black pepper especially. My lips swell up and such. I avoid it like the plague.

Conversely, cayenne pepper is totally fine and I use it in place of peppercorns when cooking.

#14

Image source: Grave_Girl

One of my kids, age five or six, commented that Greek yoghurt was “a little spicy.”

For my own sanity I have to assume he meant tangy and just didn’t have that word, but it’s definitely funnier at face value. I’ve noticed my kids lose their spice tolerance at about the point they start developing food preferences in general. I’ve worked to build up my spice tolerance over the years, and don’t stint on it with the kids either, so it’s kind of funny to watch a kid go from chowing down on jalapeño anything to complaining that Bullseye BBQ sauce is too much heat for them.

#15

Image source: WhatsYourGameTuna, Engin Akyurt

My friend said she thought cauliflower was too spicy. Dead serious.

#16

Image source: Aware_Camera_7002, Marek Kupiec

Black pepper was too spicy

#17

Image source: Ralfarius, HM Grand Central Hotel

My aunt thinks having a low spice tolerance counts as a personality trait. It’s so integral that as a goof my spouse once started to describe a chicken soup they were all having at a diner as ‘really peppery’ and despite my aunt having already ate like half her bowl suddenly couldn’t eat it anymore.

#18

Image source: DBSeamZ, Louis Hansel

Me. Pepper on fries or in the breading of chicken nuggets is legit painful for me. I frequently wonder if I’m actually allergic to pepper, since I’ve seen a few charts of “how to tell if your young child has a food allergy” and one clue is if the kid says something is “spicy” when it shouldn’t be.

#19

Image source: FunkyKong147, Mike Mozart

When I worked at Tim Hortons a guy complained that out ranch dressing was “too spicy” and it “burnt his tongue”

#20

Image source: killa_noiz, Nataliya Vaitkevich

My wife recently claimed hummus was spicy. I think she was experiencing the slight tingle caused by the lemon juice