Because spicy is not a flavor. Spicy is more like an allergic reaction to a chemical that certain plants excrete as a defense mechanism. Humans are just weirdos because we enjoy our mouths and buttholes being on fire.
The chemical is capsaicin, and it’s a neurotoxin. That’s why with repeated exposure you can start to gain resistance.
Birds are less sensitive to capsaicin, which made having it around seeds beneficial for plants. Birds eat the seeds and then spread them after flying somewhere else, but mammals are deterred from eating the seeds and they are poor vectors for spread because most mammals that eat large amounts of vegetable matter have molar teeth that aid in breaking down small seeds for digestion.
Until a certain mammal decided they liked the burn, and deliberately spread those plants further than birds ever did.
Acktachully, your entire digestive system is lined with taste buds! They aren’t hooked into your normal sensory awareness, so you don’t taste your own digestive juices the way you taste your mouth, but they are used for sensing things like spoiled food and spice! Those receptors can trigger ejection of material if it’s bad enough (diarrhea/vomiting, depending where in the tract it sensed bad stuff). That’s why sometimes after something very spicy, your guts burn.
Because spicy is not a flavor. Spicy is more like an allergic reaction to a chemical that certain plants excrete as a defense mechanism. Humans are just weirdos because we enjoy our mouths and buttholes being on fire.
Plant: develops high amounts of capsaicin to ward off predators
Humans: ooh, this would be great with chicken!
Plant: am I a joke to you?
The chemical is capsaicin, and it’s a neurotoxin. That’s why with repeated exposure you can start to gain resistance.
Birds are less sensitive to capsaicin, which made having it around seeds beneficial for plants. Birds eat the seeds and then spread them after flying somewhere else, but mammals are deterred from eating the seeds and they are poor vectors for spread because most mammals that eat large amounts of vegetable matter have molar teeth that aid in breaking down small seeds for digestion.
Until a certain mammal decided they liked the burn, and deliberately spread those plants further than birds ever did.
Maybe it’s just the mouth part we enjoy and the other we tolerate.
Speak for yourself while I go boof some jalapeños
Just the tip. You don’t have receptors in your colon.
Ooh I get to be that guy!
Acktachully, your entire digestive system is lined with taste buds! They aren’t hooked into your normal sensory awareness, so you don’t taste your own digestive juices the way you taste your mouth, but they are used for sensing things like spoiled food and spice! Those receptors can trigger ejection of material if it’s bad enough (diarrhea/vomiting, depending where in the tract it sensed bad stuff). That’s why sometimes after something very spicy, your guts burn.
https://askabiologist.asu.edu/taste-outside-mouth general info about digestive system taste buds
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23886384/ This one is specifically about taste receptors in the colon