Here we go starting food fights again.
No regrets, we love watching you all lose it in the comments section defending your weirdly obscure food hills. We love dying on those hills right there with you because we're just as passionate about snackage as y'all are.
Reddit user JuuuEi asked:
"What's the best spice?"
Did you know there are people out there who think paprika is flavorless and that black pepper is too spicy?
Yeah, this article is about to be a journey.
Paprika
"Paprika, but there's a caveat"
"Most of what’s sold in supermarkets is flavorless dust. Paprika needs to be high quality and fresh."
"It’s actually very easy to make - you take red bell peppers and dry them in a dehydrator or a low oven. Then grind them into powder."
- murrion
"You have to actually get fresh paprika."
"If you're buying some store brand you are probably getting super stale, flavorless powder."
"I never thought much of it for a long time until I got nicer quality. I use it in so many Southern recipes."
- superdave820
"Agree. Paprika and it’s relatives around the world, like bere bere and powdered chilis, for instance - so many cuisines have a similar spice - are great and Red Pepper flakes aren’t to be disrespected either."
- RDAM60
Paprika GIF by HOFER SlovenijaGiphyCumin
"Cumin"
"I regularly grind cumin, salt, and pepper together and season everything with it. Gives food such an earthiness and it just plain smells amazing."
- cyclenaut
"It’s SO good. Not spicy enough to hurt, but warming and so good in both sweet and savoury dishes… chefs kiss"
- AmIRightPeter
"Cumin all the way every day."
"The smell just makes me happy and the taste brings me back to being 20. Growing up we had very bland - good but terribly bland food like bacon and cabbage, stew, coddle, all types of potato and the odd salad."
"I left home at 17, by the age of 19/20 I was a regular at the Hare Krishna Sunday feasts and cumin blew my mind. I absolutely love it."
- galwaycitydub
"Cumin. Few spices alone can completely transform a dish’s flavor profile like cumin."
"In Indian food, the amount of cumin literally affects what dish you are making. It’s a standout ingredient in Mexican food. It separates Central Asian food from its western and eastern cousins."
"I’d wager Cumin is so powerful that it’s prevented from having center stage on the table like pepper. But not in a 'too much makes it inedible' way like clove. More so like 'I didn’t plan on my burger tasting like a kabob today' way."
- mrglass8
Curry GIF by MasterChefAUGiphyFresh Black Pepper
"I love spices and had a good think on the question before looking at the responses... but I had to settle on pepper. It's practically universal."
"Garlic comes in as a close second but I personally categorize it as an aromatic instead of a spice."
- legendariel
"Fresh ground black pepper, pick your coarseness, it's good on everything. Even a lot of sweet dishes can benefit from a pinch of it."
- Android69beepboop
"This is it right here. Most people have had terrible pre-ground pepper or just as bad, low quality cheap peppercorns that taste like dirt."
"It is the best spice that has suffered the vanilla treatment. So ubiquitous people ignore it and is usually found as a low-quality alternative despite being so popular for a reason."
- Cha-La-Mao
"I cannot taste pepper, only feel the “heat” from it. If a food even has the smallest bit, it makes the entire meal entirely inedible because I taste nothing and only feel my mouth on fire."
"I can eat all the garlic, horseradish, etc, but no black pepper or chili peppers. I literally can’t tell the difference between a jalapeño or ghost pepper, it’s all just pain to me lol."
"I wish I understood what the rest of the world tastes when then eat pepper :( "
- ElleCay
bart simpson restaurant GIFGiphyCinnamon
"Cinnamon."
"Anytime something tastes good and someone asks what’s in that… the answer is invariably cinnamon. It should be on tables in restaurants along with salt and pepper!"
- CarbonSteelSA
"Yes! Cinnamon desserts are of the gods."
- hmbmelly
"Cinnamon in coffee grounds before brewing makes for DIVINE coffee !"
- lookonthebrightside7
"I love doing this – makes the kitchen smell heavenly."
"Just be careful when sleepily making coffee - I’ve grabbed cumin without noticing more times than I’d like to admit lol"
- shirleysparrow
Iced Coffee GIF by CinnabonGiphyTurmeric
"Turmeric, tasty and anti-inflammatory"
- norfolkdiver
"It's the 'secret' ingredient in a lot of Latin American cuisine, not just Indian."
"It's not just one flavour, it can be changed into dozens of different flavours with very little help."
- Captcha_Imagination
"Turmeric is basically a wonder drug."
"It’s a potent anti-cancer agent, shows significant benefits for diabetes, is as beneficial to artery health as regular exercise, and much, much more."
- ashomsky
Cardamom
"Cardamom."
"Seriously, tho: add some cardamom to your pancake or waffle batter, game changer."
- Remoru
"Ever tried black cardamom?"
"It is like the most intense, smokey, woody, fragrant spine you will ever try. I put them in curries and eat them whole, it is amazing."
- Iwanttosleep8hours
"Try it in spice cookies like Snickerdoodles! Deelish!!"
- silvervm
"Add it to sugar cookie dough, vanilla ice cream, or hot cocoa."
"You can also put a handful of whole cardamom pods into basmati rice when making rice to go with curry. You don't eat the pods, but it makes the whole batch of rice taste and smell fancier."
- tractiontiresadvised
Cardamom Ahmed Amin GIF by NETFLIXGiphySaffron
"Depends on how you define spice but I’m a big fan of Saffron."
"I know it’s expensive, but god damn just a tiny pinch of it can completely change a dish in my opinion."
- tortillakingred
Celebrity Masterchef Saffron GIF by MasterChefAUGiphyAlmost Bacon
"Smoked paprika, if you haven’t tried swapping it in, definitely do so."
- undead_opossum
"Smoked paprika has the most amazing flavour. Regular paprika is flavourless."
- Apprehensive_Egg6077
"Straight up smoked paprika."
"Since I’ve stopped eating as much meat it’s as close as I can get to bacon flavoured vegetables."
- DarthJiveTurkey
"When I first discovered smoked paprika in a meal kit, I was blown away by the flavor. It almost smelled bacon-y. I now make that recipe all the time."
- a-tiny-pizza
"Smoked paprika. Makes everything taste like you added sausage!"
- Tall_Mickey
food porn bacon GIF by HuffPostGiphyCayenne
"Cayenne pepper."
- adriatic_harmony
"Always gotta have cayenne on the spice rack."
- Hydra_Master
"Yes finally! It took me ages to find this one. Cayenne is the stuff off the gods."
- lularose1611
"Forgot about his love for cayenne!"
"To me cayenne pepper > black or white pepper."
- adriatic_harmony
season 1 netflix GIF by Gilmore Girls GiphyGinger
"Ginger for me."
- ok_im_trying_again
"Ginger supremacy."
- GRZ_KIMI
"I was all for Posh Spice myself"
- stevebobeeve
"Ginger embodied the overall spirit of Girl Power the most and had the best story arc (and a great autobiography) but I've always been particularly fond of Baby."
"Emma Bunton's first 2 solo albums were pop gems."
- PeterCrissOnTheDrums
ginger spice girl power GIFGiphyBeyond Standard
"It’s a blend, but: Capetown Curry"
"Similar to standard curry, but a slightly broader flavor and just a tiny hint of tangy. Excellent on popcorn, also eggs, among many other things."
- holmgangCore
More GIF by Shorty AwardsGiphyIn Their Own Way
"There is nothing that can be labelled as a 'best' spice. Every spice is special and beneficial in its own way."
"Turmeric has anti-bacterial, anti-septic and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also rich in anti-oxidants. The milk helps in easing body pains, menstrual cramps, boosting immunity and providing relief from cold and cough."
"Cinnamon has anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It has a sweet and earthy flavour. You can add cinnamon to your curries, desserts, cakes, pancakes and oats."
"Ginger contains gingerol which has powerful medicinal and benefits like helping in digestion, reducing nausea, fighting common cold and flu. It may also help in weight loss, lower blood sugar levels and ease menstrual pains."
"Green Cardamom has high amounts of anti-oxidants, helps in reducing blood pressure, has anti-inflammatory properties, may help in improving digestive problems and help in treating infections because of its anti-bacterial properties."
"Jeera is a good source of potassium and iron, builds good immunity, is packed with anti-oxidants and has anti-bacterial properties as well. It helps in digestion, are a good source of iron, controls blood cholesterol, promotes weight loss and prevents food-borne diseases."
- AbhishekTSM
Bring It In The Goldbergs GIF by ABC NetworkGiphyThe Best Commercials
"Old Spice....I'm on a horse now."
- [Reddit]
"Old Spice"
- dependonmemes
"Old Spice of course"
- jennysook
Old Spice Yes GIFGiphyBiased
"In my experience, cinnamon for sweets, garlic for everything else. You can't go wrong with them."
"People would think I'd be biased against garlic since I'm from Transylvania - but nope! Love it."
- SlothActionForce
Art Vampire GIFGiphyCumin Around
"I don't know about best, but I love cumin."
- Brieflydexter
"Cumin makes everything more delicious."
- gaybe88mph
"I’ve just discovered Black Cumin. I put it in everything now."
- ilikecatsandukulele
Cross Eyed Dan Aykroyd GIF by Jason ClarkeGiphySo Salty
"Salt. Without it any food will not taste good."
"Salt … It’s literally in everything and that’s why it’s always on the table."
- BanannyMousse
Stephen Curry Reaction GIF by MOODMANGiphyClassic Flavor
"Vanilla people, it’s vanilla."
"Vanilla is a classic. How is this not everyone's first choice?"
- SoyLuisHernandez
Ice Cream Eating GIFGiphyThe Green Lid
"Garlic salt."
"But specifically the one at costco with the green lid."
- livewumbo
"All garlic salt is good, but green lid garlic salt hits different."
- [Reddit]
Licking Jackie Chan GIFGiphyThis Moment of Honesty
"I'm too Indian to answer this thread. 🤣"
- milk_y_bae
Bollywood Indian GIF by SAATH MNGiphyYou didn't honestly think we were going to make it through a spice article without a Spice Girls reference did you?
C'mon now. Y'all know I live for a good late 90's/early 00s reference!
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Reddit user GCanuck asked:
"Which historically famous person do you think would be most surprised to learn they are famous?"
If your mind immediately went to that Vincent Van Gogh scene from Dr. Who then 1. you're a nerd (me too!) and 2. you're not alone.
Here's what Reddit had to say.
The Little Painter Fellow
Van Gogh Reaction GIF by GIF IT UPGiphy"Vincent van Gogh."
"His paintings made billions of dollars for rich people, but couldn't trade a painting for a meal during his lifetime. Had to be supported by his brother."
- strangedigital
"It’s amazing how many pieces he created in such a short time considering how unsuccessful he was in selling them while alive. He kept banging them out despite his 'failure'.”
- Fthewigg
"He was encouraged to paint as part of his therapy/rehabilitation. He was a pretty disturbed guy, and not in a romantic way."
- redkat85
"Have you ever seen the Doctor Who episode about him?"
- LucyVialli
"This is what actually prompted this question for me."
- GCanuck
A Diary
"Anne Frank"
- 222sick
"Most of the world has read your diary."
"Wait...All of my diary?"
- SuperstitiousPigeon5
"Her Father censored some of it because she talks about her body and other things, I can't really blame him for that. Modern prints are uncensored."
- zerbey
"She’d have been thrilled, but I don’t think surprised is the right word. She dreamed of being a published author. She knew that she was creating something valuable and important with her diary, and she wanted it to be published."
- shhhhquiet
"I wonder what she'd think of her diary being turned into a stage play including a Broadway run and thousands of young girls doing their best to recreate all the different facets both good and bad of how she acted during her time in the Annex."
- Lil_Jazzy
Herman The Whale
bart simpson episode 3 GIFGiphy"Herman Melville."
"He had a few early successes with seafaring books, but Moby-Dick was a total flop that got bad reviews, and he spent the final decades of his life working in the customs department."
"He would be shocked to hear he wrote the Great American Novel."
- centaurquestions
"My boyfriend is from New Bedford, MA. Apparently the local high schools there had big murals depicting scenes from Moby Dick." "
*That* would have amazed Melville."
- DoctorWatchamacallit
"Dude, that's the best part. You never know what's coming next. It's like:"
"45 pages of unintentionally hilarious interactions between Ishmael and Queequeg."
"30 pages of incredible, brooding drama written in stage play format for some reason."
"100 page essay about some minor technical details about whaling and how some village built their chieftain's hall out of a whale's ribcage."
"Another 20 pages of Ahab chewing the scenery and embodying mankind's self-destructive obsessions"
"Then Queequeg speaking his last words but then deciding he doesn't want to die yet and miraculously springing back to life."
"Like the ocean itself, you have to accept that Moby Dick moves at its own pace lol"
- jesushitlerchrist
We, In Fact, Did Not Forget
"Hegelochus, an actor who mispronounced a word in a play in the year 408 BC and was mocked so thoroughly for it, his mistake has made it into the collective ledger of things historians know about and generally agree upon having happened… and we're still aware of it over 2,400 years later."
"Imagine making a meme today with a word misspelled, and others found that misspelling so egregiously mockable that you are still known for it in the year 4422."
- film_composer
" 'Oh come on get over it. No one will remember about that by tomorrow' -Hehelochus’ mom probably"
- Kehl21
"He must have went to sleep running the moment in his head over and over again, but he probably tried to comfort himself by thinking, 'well, at least it's not like some space-age hyper-futuristic society is going to be discussing this thousands of years from now on their magic boxes powered by lightning in some language that doesn't even exist yet'."
- film_composer
"This is the worst nightmare of everyone that has been told to stop worrying because no one will pay as much attention to what you're doing as you."
"Counter point: Hegelochus."
- LectureAfter8638
Kafkaesque
"Kafka. Rarely published in his lifetime, and when he did it was in obscure magazines which nobody read."
"Explicitly asked that his works be destroyed after his death. It's only because his executor disregarded his wishes and published his unfinished works (which comprise the majority of his oeuvre) that he is famous today."
- IllustriousSquirrel9
"Kafka is a good example of how much can anxiety ruin a person's life"
- Sergey32321
"Kafka wrote his stories to be shared with a group of friends like story-telling at a campfire"
- Responsible_Put_2960
Gospel Legend
"Blind Willie Johnson."
"He passed away blind, poor and sick, lying in the ruins of his house after it was burnt down."
"And his song 'Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground' left our solar system not too long ago aboard the Voyager to be listened to by life among the stars."
- dntExit
"I really like to think one day-thousands and thousands of years in the future, an alien race will find that golden disk and hear his voice."
"I think the fact he had such a poor life but could one day live eternally amongst the stars is so beautiful."
- gonzomullz
"Found out about him through a VSauce video."
"I listened to a couple songs and really liked them, he had a great voice and had a great talent for playing guitar despite being blind. Such a humbling and inspiring story he had"
- HRPr03
"I remember learning about this in a Vsauce video and crying profusely afterwards, but not only from sadness, also from hope, and some other emotions I can’t possibly describe."
"The fact that he died at the lowest of lows, blind, sick, poor, and alone, yet he very well could be the man that teaches the stars about the very essence of humanity… there’s just something so intrinsically beautiful about that."
"Humanity, flawed as it is, is as intrinsically kind and beautiful as it is evil. The world forgets that sometimes."
- cmoneybouncehouse
Other Madonna
mona lisa oh no you didnt GIFGiphy"Lisa Gherardini, the Mona Lisa model."
"She was just some unremarkable random wife. Fast forward a few hundred years and she ended up as one of the most recognizable faces in history."
- finsareluminous
"HER NAMES NOT EVEN MONA LISA?!"
- Jaded-Associate6891
" 'Monna' was a shortening of the Italian word 'madonna', which was the equivalent of the English 'Madam'."
- Koifish_Coyote
Honor Well Pass Death
"Glyndwr Michael"
"This is the dead body they used in Operation Mincemeat."
"The man basically consumed rat poison to commit suicide."
"His corpse was then used for a British secret operation to carry fake documents for the Nazis to find in order to make them think they were invading Greece and not Sicily."
"This man died in a alleyway and went on the become a dedicated Major in the British military buried with full military rites - under his fake name, but still him in physical form."
- TheBabyLeg123
"He was originally buried under his covert identity (in Spain where his body washed ashore after being deposited in the sea nearby by a Royal Navy submarine), Major William Martin of the Royal Marines."
"In 2009 or thereabouts his real name (Glyndwr Michael) was added to his gravestone."
- BravoBanter
"I thought he died of tuberculosis so it’d be more convincing he was a British serviceman who drowned? Or maybe that was the guy used to make the Nazis think the Allies were invading Calais instead of Normandy."
- UnconstrictedEmu
"It was rat poison but it's not clear if it was a suicide."
"The poison was in the form of a paste that would be smeared on pieces of bread; rodents eat the bread, rodents die. Or in this case; poor Welshman eats the bread, poor Welshman dies."
"It's not clear whether he knew the paste was poison, or whether he was just hungry and thought he genuinely found some bread lying around."
"Where the confusion comes in is that the guy in charge of Mincemeat claimed the body was that of a young man who died of pneumonia, and that the parents had given permission for his body to be used as it was."
- ConstableBlimeyChips
A Real Hero
"Henrietta Lacks"
- LucyVialli
"A literal hero of humanity who in some ways is still alive."
"Her family deserved so much better though."
- AzureBluet
"Can I get a short version? I don't think I've heard of her before"
- Fyrrys
"Her contribution to science is and continues to be gigantic"
- Available-Age2884
Laws Of Inheritance
"Gregor Mendel, the monk and scientist who experimented with pea plant traits to describe what we today literally call Mendelian inheritance."
"The significance of Mendel's findings, which he published in 1866, went almost completely unrecognized during his life and after his death. His work was only rediscovered in the early 1900s when modern ideas about inheritance and selection started taking hold."
- ThadisJones
"I can differ there. When he first stated his theory, he was sure it was correct (as it was) but was rejected. I can imagine him not being surprised at the fact that his work was re recognised as right later down the line"
- Brother_Not_Shook
"It's entirely possible you're correct and Mendel suspected that someday he'd be proved right. At the same time, however, he spent decades after his discovery trying and failing to elicit interest from the academic public or individual biologists, and retired from science to become a monastery administrator, which looks a lot like 'giving up'."
- ThadisJones
Okay, so we learned some interesting history today. How about you?
Don't you love a good myth?
Us too.
Let's put some of NSFW ones to the test.
RedditorWizzlyG33wanted to hear about what lies need to be exposed when it comes to sex, death and all things over the top in life. They asked:
"If MythBusters had a NSFW episode, what would you want to see on it?"
Oh Jamie
Season 1 Love GIF by OutlanderGiphy"A five second segment where Jamie points at a diagram and says, in complete deadpan, 'This is where the clitoris is.'"
TheFeelsGoodMan
"If they did such an episode, I could see this being in it for sure."
Chubby_Bub
BUSTED!
"I want them to purchase every pill they see on the internet that would make their penis bigger and see what happens."
tkepongo
"I think we can call that one BUSTED already. In what version of any world can you imagine there is a simple pill to make your junk more impressive and every dude you know doesn't already have a case of 10000 pills stashed under the bed?"
_Alternate_Throwaway
Don't Sit
"Can you actually get an STD from a toilet seat?"
BloodyChapel
"This is an interesting thing actually. It was a myth deliberately perpetuated to make people less ashamed of asking for STD tests."
leonielion
"Fun fact: There are multiple STDs that can be dormant (like inactive) for years. Like several years."
"You’d never know you had gotten it. Then something triggers it, maybe an infection or something, and then you start showing symptoms/Can now test positive. So technically a partner from years before could have given it to you and you either think your SO is cheating or haven’t been with anybody in a long time. Either way it’s scary when you think about it."
DesperateMango1731
After Death
"Does a person really stay conscious for a few moments after beheading?"
SammyGotStache
"There was a French physician who tested this in the early 1900s. After a criminal was beheaded he picked up the head and shouted the criminal's name. The guy opened his eyes and made eye contact with the physician over a period of 30 seconds whenever his name was called. Edit: I provided the source in other comments but here it is on the original comment."
UnadulteratedWalking
Theories
looking down homer simpson GIFGiphy"Size correlates to what? Feet? Nose? So many theories."
throwxxawayxx10977
"I have size 12 feet and a massive nose and huge hands and the little guy is small."
FireTrickle
Oh the lies and the rumors and the shade.
More is More
Seth Meyers Dancing GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphy"They did prove that women with larger breasts will get more tips. Which isn’t really not safe for work, because Kari literally was working at a coffee shop."
Unsettleingpresence
"If breast enlargements will help your job would you be able to write them off on your taxes?"
Mr3k
Deep Down
"How deep underwater are you still able to orgasm?"
Successful_Present39
"Pretty sure there's no lower limit. When you're underwater, your body is under pressure, but for the most part doesn't actually get compressed. Only your air spaces (lungs, sinuses, inner ears) are really subject to compression from ambient water pressure. There can be painful exceptions like air pockets inside a tooth filling, which I do not recommend experiencing."
"Most of your body is water or various solids, which push back on the ambient water pressure. You prostate shouldn't be blocked by water pressure any more than your bladder is. Source: am old scuba diver, I've done all kinds of things a hundred feet underwater. At that depth the ambient pressure is 4 bar, which in olden-tymes units is nearly 60 pounds per square inch. Also: fish do it underwater, doesn't seem to stop them."
UlrichZauber
Tasting Men
"Does pineapple make your semen taste better?"
TMNT4lyfe
Keep Thinking
"Post orgasm clarity: How much better can you solve puzzles or remember something?"
texanaftdy
"Well, recently I did a lot of reaction time tests on humanbenchmark.com and while normally I get average of around 140-145, after a good O I consistently got around 130-135, very often getting single clicks close to 120 which almost never happens in other cases. And it's weird because I feel more tired but apparently my reaction time improves for some reason."
berni2905
Safety First
Safety Helmet GIF by Just SecondsGiphy"A take on the top ten OSHA violations list to see if they are as dangerous as they say."
Mariuxpunk007
"Safety regulations are written in blood."
GegenscheinZ
Well that is a ton of great suggestions. Let's work on it.
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Make the most with what makes you happy
"I've learned to enjoy my own company and focus on my hobbies."
"Funny enough, this gives me stuff to talk about when I am around people."
Voices in the background
"Listening to people talk on YouTube so I feel less alone in my house."
Millions of friends, just one click away.
"Chat with random people on Reddit."
internet computer GIFGiphyStill figuring it out
"I don't I'm f*cking miserable."- Savathunh
"I don't :("- __MashedPotatoes__·
Get my body movin'
"Working out."
"It makes me feel better about myself and I have something to do alone."- DerpBread69
Gym Working Out GIF by Chance The RapperGiphyWho says I need to?
"I love solitude."- Befuddled_GenXer
solitude GIFHit the snooze button
"Sleep 12+ hours a day."- RockandRoll682
Instant tension and relief
"Lots of arguing online about sh*t I don't care about at all, just to have some form of social interaction, and get off at least 3 times a day."-
There are very few worse feelings than that of being alone.
But it's also quite remarkable how much doing something that makes you happy, be it ever so simple, can elevate your feelings.