I dunno, seems to have worked out for the chillis - there’s more of them now than ever before
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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That's because evolution is a results-driven process. All that matters is making viable offspring. Doesn't matter how it gets done.
meanwhile chinese cooking: i'll have all 3 at once please
And it's so. Damn. Delicious.
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Life wouldn't be the same without Tabasco. How could I ever eat my cotton candy or cereals without copious amounts of it?
I’m actually surprised that I’ve never found cotton candy coated with tajin, now that you mention it.
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How fortunate then that the same species resistant to their defense actually goes on to cultivate it
Oh, we’re not resistant, we’re just crazy enough to like the pain. Birds are resistant and don’t feel it at all, they can eat chilis like fruits.
It's just relative. Most mammals don't pay rent, taxes, or have to deal with the TSA. Once you do those things, spicy plant chemicals become a frivolous game.
I eat peppers just to feel something
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There's a book called The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan, which is about this. Looking from the plants eye view of things, they have manipulated us into growing them in a huge variety of environments. The book focuses on tulips, cannabis, apples, and potatoes, iirc. Fascinating book.
Two quick examples from the book:
Pot gets us high, now we grow it in closets, warehouses, yards, basements, attics, etc.
Apples don't reproduce true from seed, so Johnny Appleseed brought readily available cider to the Americas. (You need a cutting of an apple tree to grow that type of apple.)
Tobacco plants: produce nicotine, a toxic alkaloid
Humans: imma smoke that shiiiiit
Humans: I will now cultivate you, export you, protect you and make sure you're growing well so I can keep smoking you despite a 50% chance of dying from it.
Tobacco clearly has the last laugh in this story.
Tobacco clearly has the last laugh in this story.
Well, it's not like we're immortal if we abstain.
I am
With a name like The Fartographer, I'm inclined to believe you. 👍
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We like our poisons in just the rights amounts.
It's funny if you think about it: Plant makes chemical (capsaicin) to help it thrive > humans love the painful spice, start growing and propagating peppers > Peppers spread grow like crazy. Evolution working exactly as it should
Does anyone have an explanation for why they would evolve to prevent being eaten by mammals? I would think having mammals help spread their seeds would be beneficial?
Found the answer myself. Protects against fungal attacks. Also birds don't have the same receptors to capsaicin.
Birds eat them without feeling the heat. And they can spread seeds more effectively as you can imagine.
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If no eat, why so delicious?
If not delicious then why delicious shaped?
Is it ironic that those two sauces aren't really that hot? 😂
Delicious, yes! But very low on the Scoville scale for hot sauce.
Sriracha is now completely random from bottle to bottle. It goes from Tabasco to Carolina Reaper with no visual indicator. Turns out fucking over your loyal farmers and having to constantly scrounge has negative consequences…
Is Tabasco delicious? I find the Sriracha from couple of years ago delicious (the current one is much worse), but Tabasco always tasted like a white vinegar mixed with capsaicin.
Tabasco sauce, and the peppers, are good for some foods, not so much for others. There is no ULTIMATE hot sauce, just what works.
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It's sort of what happens though. A plant gets a defense mechanism, it becomes more abundant, something will target that abundant food source.
Butt also go Brrr after eating to much spicy
You get to enjoy spicy food twice.
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HUMANS: Hey peppers, we like what you're doing, a-
PEPPERS: HOW‽‽ IT'S SUPPOSED TO HURT Y-
HUMANS: -nd we wanted to produce as many of you as we can in a controlled environment.
PEPPERS: ... Blinks in disbelief Go on...?
Well, not all of you. We'll massacre and purge your more moderate siblings and cousins, but we really like YOU, so we're gonna clone you as much as we can.
You're welcome.
Plant: "I will let you feel pain". Humans: "Jokes on you, I'm into that shit"
Sometimes it also makes your ass go brrrrrr...
Why is the chili wearing a cape? Or is that... hair?
What’s the sauce on the right?
Huy Fong branded Sriracha. It’s the worst option because they fucked over their pepper suppliers so the quality is terrible now. Get any other kind of Sriracha and it’ll be better.
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