Interesting piece here. As a person who loves spicy food, I can definitely say that I've almost always had this predisposition. Even as a toddler, I liked A1 steak sauce on my baby food.
According to Bryant, Mexican parents give their children packets of sugar mixed with red chili powder, which they eat straight up, in order to build their spice tolerance. “We assume that continued exposure at a young age causes nerve endings to die off,” Bryant says.
I'm pretty sure that red chili powder is hotter than A1, but maybe it's not a bad idea to start Permanent Press, Jr. on some spicier food to get his tolerance up. We'll see what Mrs. Permanent Press has to say about that, though. Just a few weeks ago, he ate some salsa right out of a cup.
