Voted for

• Only some dishes

My wife is from the Mexico City area, so she likes her food spicy, and to a degree, I and the rest of the family have followed suit. Where I depart ways is that she might put hot salsa on virtually anything, while for me, many foods have their own taste combinations that throwing a chili on is not going to enhance.

It's not about heat, but flavor, and how that heat can enhance it.

There is a Mexican dish called Tinga that, when done right, does just that. The spice is just enough to a) open your palate so that b) you must eat more. It's an amazing culinary experience that I've not had with any other food. I think there's more to it than just the spice (there's not a lot of heavy food ingredients involved, so you can eat more without getting or feeling full), but it definitely helps.

I've had curries and other kinds of spices beyond just Mexican and I end up coming back to the same thing: how does it taste. Is the taste drowned out by the heat? Then, I'd rather not eat it.