Spice

November 14spice,louisiana hot sauces,tobasco,louisiana state museum

I am thankful for spice, more specifically, Louisiana hot sauces. The spice of life! Spices of all kind flavor our food and make it better tasting. Of course, in Louisiana we have our beloved hot sauce, with Tobasco being the grandaddy of them all. Viva the spice! I don't like to smother my food so that it is so hot that it is unpleasant. But I like a little bit of hot sauce. And anyway, capsaicin is good for our health, as there is evidence for its topical effectiveness in dulling pain from shingles and other ailments, as well as its ingestion having possible anti cancer effects and an ability to burn fat and to have other weight loss effects. The sensation of heat or burning comes when it binds a specific neuroreceptor responsible for burning type pain and activates those neurons.

This is a display at the Louisiana State Museum of Louisiana hot sauces.

hot sauce

in a fit of male bravado

i had to prove my worth

so with smugness i downed a teaspoon of tobasco

to show my right of birth

at first there was no real effect

and i gave very little sign

until the redness crept up my neck

and my mouth gave a whine

which very soon turned

and became a full yell

my dining companions looked at me

as a strange silence in the room fell

i conclude that no amount of macho

can succeed in outlasting that pain

or overcome or even equal

my curious absence of a brain.

© rt tulley