China chilli pepper festival

Chinas annual chilli pepper festival, obviously based in China. Imagine watching 10+ people with 50 Tabasco chili peppers surrounding them, they’re literally in a pool of chilli, but they wear protection so the chilli’s won’t irritate their skin, they hold a plate in front of them and put 50 chilli’s in it, they have a little over a minute to eat all of the peppers. Why would someone even compete in a competition so brutal. Well, they compete for the money-a 3 gram 24k golden coin. I know that that’s a lot of money, but that’s a lot of peppers. The peppers, as I said, are Tabasco peppers that have a rank of 30-000 to 50-000 on a Scoville heat scale. The Scoville heat scale basically tells you how hot the peppers are. Look at it like this: a jalapeno pepper has a rank of a 1000-10000 on a Scoville heat scale. It’s not just the heat but the number 50 (for food) is still a lot! If you have 50 portions of any kind of food, you’re most likely going to throw up.

Now let’s combine the heat of the chilli peppers and the amount of the chilli peppers. The person that eats the 50 Tabasco peppers first is the winner, and takes the 3 gram 24k gold coin home. This is a very dangerous competition, not only professional eaters can compete, basically anyone can compete, you don’t have to be a professional to compete in this competition but it is not recommended that you do compete because it’s brutal, and if you loose, you’re left with nothing but nausea, vomiting and no money. Of course people need to train before they enter the contest. Lach contestant has a right to drink water (or milk) in the contest so they can chow down on the hot chilli peppers easily. Just by watching this you could get sick, because just the thought of eating so many chilli peppers is sickening, There were even cases when people were eating too fast so they would vomit and eat at the same time, so they would basically just throw up everything they just ate in the moment and eat back up again.

Disgusting. For some people it would be entertaining, that’s why it’s a festival. It’s not just the eating chilli pepper contest that’s in the festival, but also who makes the best chilli, and a range of chilli foods are being sold at the festival. You could say that that day is all about spices. It’s a fun expirience, and seeing the person that one the 3 gram 24k gold coin is impressive. If swimming in a chilli pool is on your bucket list, then I suggest you go to this festival, even if there’s a very small chance that you’ll win, why not try it out. You will get sick, but you only live once after all. Preparation for the festival takes a few weeks. First they need to collect a lot of chilli peppers. Trust me, a lot of chilli peppers. Then they have to collect contestants and invite people to watch. This festival is starting to get well known in China, and it happens once a year, it lasts for almost a month, and it ends on the end of August. This is a festival that also attracts tourists all over the world, everyone is motivated to get the money.

So it’s hot outside, and you’re eating a lot of chilli peppers at an alarming speed while you’re sweating in the heat of summer, eyes on you, people are watching you eat and almost throw up at the same time, it’s stressful for a person, plus you’re crying, and that’s not a pretty site to see. It’s like watching a movie. You would think that you could see these kinds of things only in cartoons. It all takes place in Ningxiang, China’s central Human province. This year the festival started on July 8th, on a Monday. A local theme park in Ningxiang organized the festival. Doctors must be on stand by in case of an emergency. I must say that it must be very uncomfortable standing in a pool of water and hot chilli peppers. Contestants that competed last year said that they were in so much pain that they just wanted to end it all in the moment, it truly is that brutal. As I said the contest lasts for almost a month, but the fresh chilli pepper eating contest is held almost every day, so there could be more winners every day.

But is it really worth it? This could ruin your stomach, even though its healthy to eat spicy food, it’s really not healthy eating 50 extremely hot chilli peppers very fast. It could upset your stomach a lot and you could be in pain for days, not to mention the diarrhea, not even milk can help you at this point. Chilli peppers are rich in various minerals and vitamins, but usually, they are eaten in small amounts. Doctors don’t even recommend eating spicy every day, it could really upset your stomach even though you love spicy food. The history behind this festival is not very clear but it was started by the local theme park in Ningxiang and the locals there would compete. The festival was held in 2017 for the first time, it is now in its second year. On July 8th contestant Tang Shuaihui, a local boy, won with an amazing 68 seconds record, he got to take home the 3 gram 24k golden carat coin. While the contestants eat there’s and emcee speaking over and explaining what’s happening in the moment, for example which contestant ate how much chilli’s in 8 seconds. The science in this is not complicated, but you must have a game plan for this that’s for sure. You have a little over a minute to eat 50 hot chilli peppers. In one minute there is 60 seconds, in theory you would have to eat one chilh pepper in a second, taking a two second break every few hot chilli peppers you would eat. This festival is a great way to experience new things, after all you don’t hear about China’s chilli pepper festival every day.