—by Caroline Daykin
In today’s globalized culinary world, it’s rare for restaurant-goers to reflect on the plants that enliven their Mexican, Thai, or Ethiopian food. Many of the world’s cuisines owe their flavor to Native Americans who domesticated the genus Capsicum, commonly known as chile peppers, over 6000 years ago.
While chile peppers’ spiciness repels most animals, birds are not sensitive to capsaicin, the chemical that endows capsicums with their “heat.” Consequently, birds are responsible for the spread of chile peppers throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. As capsicums were integrated into various cuisines, cooks discovered that they could make use of this plant in both its fresh and dried incarnations.
