Chillies

It all started with my first taste of a Madras curry. Before long, I was after bigger kicks, getting mired deeper and deeper into a dangerous and pulse-quickening world. Vindaloo came next, and I rarely travelled without a bottle of Tabasco close to hand. Thai soups and salads followed, the sort that bead the forehead in sweat and render any conversation impossible. From there, it was a slippery slope to sinister-sounding hot sauces – Blair’s Ultra Death, Da’ Bomb, Dave’s Insanity. And before I knew it, I was subscribing to Chile Pepper Magazine, growing my own Scotch bonnets and scouring the streets late at night, desperate for a hit of something fierce and red.