What makes spicy foods, well, spicy?

Question

what makes spicy foods spicy, why do you feel that sensation of heat when you eat spicy foods?

Answer 1

Spices of course!

OK, I just saw you're only 12. Spices such as chillies, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, turmeric, vanilla (they're not all hot) and many more were first used by westerners (Europeans) mainly to preserve meat through the winter. The only alternative was salt.

Although some of these were known to the Romans and others before them, Europeans knew that most of them came from the Indies or Spice Islands, which is now Indonesia. They had to buy them at very high cost from Arabs who traded with Indians and Indonesians. They spent a very long time and great effort to find a sea route to the Spice Islands, and it was the way Europeans came to explore and later control most of the world.

Christopher Columbus was looking for a route to the Spice Islands when he discovered America. Actually he only discovered the Caribbean islands, which he thought were the Indes. Later they became known as the West Indies.

The Portuguese, Spanish, British and Dutch fought for centuries over these islands and the trade in spices. Only rich people could afford spices in their food in Europe until recently.

So it wasn't gold or silver that Europeans were looking for at first when they colonised the world, but spices!

Answer 2

Well, I can answer for foods from the chili pepper family. They contain chemical compounds called capsaicins. These chemicals burn any tissue they come in contact with. That's the sensation of "spicy." One theory is that the plant makes the chemical as a defense mechanism against plant-eating animals, like man!

Answer 3

Spices are what make foods spicy, obviously. Some spices give off a sensation of heat, depending on the type of spice it is. I hate spicy food, always have, & I stay away from it.

Answer 4

Pepper and hot-sauce are the things that make foods spicy. There chemicals make it so spicy sometimes you blow.

Answer 5

peppers
onions
garlic
spices ( the ones that you find in a grocery store )

you feel a sensation of heat because the heat when your chewing its not like your swallowing your kind of just leaving in your mouth for about 5-10 seconds. then some foods when you drink it get hotter depending on what kind of ingredients you put in the dish!

Answer 6

It gonna make you sweaty,your breath so hot.

Answer 7

cayenne pepper, paprika, hot sauce, garlic, black pepper

Answer 8

any type of spice

Answer 9

Duh SPICES. Please think before you post.