Not Delia

Ramsay can’t stand the heat

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Not Delia
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Chillies arranged to spell the word "Chilli"Gordon Ramsay was in the news again recently. Gee, that guy really does seem to get everywhere!

This time he was in India’s north-eastern state of Assam observing a woman making a bid for the world record for eating ghost chillies, the hottest chillies in the world. She managed 51 in two minutes, and said afterwards that she felt terrible – she had managed 60 at a previous event.
You can read the story here:
BBC News: Indian in record chilli eating attempt

According to the BBC story:
“Mr Ramsay tried a chilli but said ‘it’s too much’ and pleaded for water.”

Really? I find this difficult to believe. Anyone who knows anything about spicy food will tell you that water is just about the worst thing you can use to reduce the heat. The heat in chillies comes from the oil in the fruit and if you slosh water onto it, you are simply spreading it further and making the discomfort worse. The quickest ‘cure’ is a mouthful of steamed rice to mop up the chilli oil.

Personally I think these records are a bit pointless, and had thought that Guinness World Records had banned eating contests on the basis that they could be injurious to health. (I couldn’t find any evidence of this.)

Mind you, given the choice between chillies or cockroaches, I’d take the chillies any day. Have a look at this:
Guinness World Records: Most cockroaches eaten
Urghh!

Comments

3 responses to “Ramsay can’t stand the heat”

  1. gozomark

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_World_Records

    The Guinness Book also dropped records within their “eating and drinking records” section of Human Achievements in 1991 over concerns that potential competitors could do harm to themselves and expose the publisher to potential litigation.[9] These changes included the removal of all liquor, wine and beer drinking records, along with other unusual records for consuming such unlikely things as bicycles and trees

  2. Not Delia

    Thanks, Mark. I guess I didn’t look hard enough.

  3. Matt

    Yeah, as much as I like chilli, I am pretty wary about how much you have. It can come with serious health risks. If you eat unprocessed chilli (not chewed), it does serious damage to your insides. If you’ve got any sort of issues with your digestive tracts they’re not good news. I’ve also heard about people who have suffered from heart attacks from having too much chilli and not being able to process it.

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