[CH] Your Firey Foods Article
Dave Anderson (Chilehead@tough-love.com)
Wed, 1 Mar 2000 21:31:53 -0800
To Kathleen Stebbins, Reno Gazette Journal food writer:
I was disappointed with your article regarding chiles and the
upcoming Firey Foods Festival in today's Reno Gazette Journal.
To begin with, the people being copied, about 1800 strong
subscibe to Chile-heads, an e-mail group. They live all over the
world, and in The US and Mexico call them chiles and in most
other english speaking countries call them Chillies. Chili is a Texas
invented concotion of roadkill and sometimes beans and has
fostered numerous chili cook-offs across the US. The only time you
spelled chile correctly was when you described Dave DeWitt as the
former editor of "Chile Pepper magazine" and the only time you got
chili in the correct context was when you quoted Ruth Adams
Bronz regarding "Texas Chili"
Additionally, your statement "(Highly concentrated capsaicin is the
ingredient used in pepper spray, and pure capsicacin can kill you.)
is poor journalism at it's best or worst. Capsiacin is used in pepper
sprays, but I defy you to find any evidence that it can kill anything,
let alone you.
Lastly, capsiacin is contained in the placenta of the pepper which
holds the seeds. It can sometimes be tasted on the surface of
seeds, but they are not the source.
I'd suggest that before you write about Chiles again that you run
down to the library and check out "Peppers, the Domesticated
Capsicums" by Jean Andrews. The library may not have the latest
edition, but you'll learn enough to write Chile stories in the future.
Dave Anderson
Tough Love Chile Co.
http://www.tough-love.com