First, the Food Programme
Bitterness
and from the World Service
Is the chilli pepper friend or foe?
The first has a tone of regret that our food is becoming blander, as bitter flavours are lost. It struck a chord when it referred to grapefruits, which I remember being much bitterer than they seem now, and I thought, I think for that reason, particularly thirst-quenching when hill walking. But I was more interested in what it had to say about humans being unique among animals in being prepared to experiment with bitter flavours, because bitterness is normally a characteristic of toxins, especially alkaloids. If you ever want really bitter, try a nut which is going mouldy - that really is a biological signal to spit it out.
The same thing struck me about the spread of chillies after they'd been discovered in the New World - it's hard to imagine now, but 500 years ago, Indian cooking wouldn't have had any chillies. What possessed human kind to experiment with something which brings tears to the eyes?
Also, it seems there are significant health benefits to eating chillies; I wonder how aware early adopters of chillies were of this? I can imagine all sorts of unsubstantiated health claims would have been made, but probably for many other plants, which really weren't so great (tobacco, for example). If the evidence now cited for their health benefits is true, then eating chillies would have spread thanks to Darwinian selection, as well as adventurous tastes.
I'm sure there is PhD in here somewhere, but that's enough for this evening!