I think it's kindof funny that people somehow associate Mexican and Indian food with being spicy. I almost think it scares them off of trying some of those dishes.
In my experience, Mexican food is rich, but not spicy. Same thing with (some) Indian food. Maybe I'm trying the wrong food, though? I've only traveled in western India (Maharashtra). I would love some recommendations for dishes to try!
BBQ (from the US) is the hottest food I have ever found. Mexican and Indian food barely registers compared to that stuff.
I've never been to India, but of course have eaten lots of spicy Indian food in restaurants. The one time I had dinner at an Indian person's home (in China) she made dishes that were so hot I had to stop. I don't know where in India she was from. They were absolutely delicious, but so spicy I had to take a break. There were these hunks of fish with some sort of herb/spice mixture seared into the outside...
Marathi food is the least spicy food I've had in India. (Exception: Kholapur.) You'll get significantly more spice anywhere else. Within Maharashtra, try misal pav or kholapur egg curry.
But yeah, even the spicy regions are (mostly) less spicy than "American Bengali restaurant signalling authenticity with too much spice" that I expected before I got here.
That is right. Usually the food is not too spicy. Most of the time you have a variety of peppers and sauces that you can add to your liking. Specially if it is going to be consumed by children. Some people prefer mild sauces, other people prefer hot flavor. Some dishes are known to be very hot and you know your have to eat them at your own risk. e.g. Diablo Shrimp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77FNW-nZyJ0
Where are you finding BBQ which registers as "the hottest food"? I can't think of a single regional BBQ style which would qualify as needle moving at all for me.
For the curious, this is a barbecue joint in Redmond, WA, just outside of Seattle and near Microsoft's headquarters. The owner, Porter, is famous for a hot sauce called "The Man" which is served out of a small, beat-up pot with a long handled spoon. If you get him talking, he'll tell you a story about someone trying to sell him capsicum extract-based sauce for his new BBQ restaurant (there's another interesting backstory about it being a car repair place previously). But it was too expensive, so he went upstream to his supplier and started buying it wholesale. He cooks it up with peppers, but the base is prefab.
It's also near-lethal... consume with caution.
Disclaimer: was last there >10 years ago, so much may have changed.
But there is no regional BBQ style which is spicy.
I can find nearly any food item on the planet that somebody has decided to jack up to 11, that doesn't make that food item the most generally hot thing out there.
I'm Eastern European, and for me, an Indian buffet is basically a minefield. If I eat something very spicy, my mouth burns, my taste buds basically go numb, and everything starts to taste the same. I prefer my food "bland" thank you very much :)
Mexican food can be spicy but it varies a lot from between individual cooks and individual dishes from the same cook, as well as regionally. I've been to places where virtually everything on the menu was, at most, on slightly spicy--but they had one dish with, e.g., an intense salsa negra that was incredibly spicy. Mexican food is incredibly diverse, and definitely included plenty of spicy, bury it's not uniformly or even mostly spicy.
In my experience, Mexican food is rich, but not spicy. Same thing with (some) Indian food. Maybe I'm trying the wrong food, though? I've only traveled in western India (Maharashtra). I would love some recommendations for dishes to try!
BBQ (from the US) is the hottest food I have ever found. Mexican and Indian food barely registers compared to that stuff.