Mala addicts unite: Celebrating the pleasure and pain of fiery masochism
I would non have chosen myself a masochist, up until the day I realised that I really loved mala.
I'm not special, I know. E'er since the mala hot pot revolution started, oh, maybe nearly vii years dorsum, it'south been zero short of unstoppable – the whole land seems to have clutched the spicy, tingly, numbing taste phenomenon to its bosom like a long-lost Sichuan cousin.
READ: Taste test: We tried out 4 different Impossible Burgers dishes at Marina Bay Sands
First, at that place was the rash of mala xiang guo stalls that started breaking out in nutrient courts all over Singapore. Then, more and more restaurants offering Sichuan-based cuisine started opening. Last year, mala fries were all the rage, and information technology seemed every bit if new brands and offerings were popping up in stores every calendar month.
And when fast food chains leap unabashedly on the bandwagon, you know we've reached peak mala fever.
With innovative "fusion" foods like southern fried chicken meets tongue-numbing spice on meridian of offerings that take been spotted around the island such as spicy mala pizza, fries and even chicken rice, it's articulate that Singaporeans have appropriated this co-operative of Sichuan cuisine and developed our own strain. Yup, mala-everything is the new salted egg, and information technology looks similar information technology's here to stay for quite a while.
What makes the spicy mala dining feel such an event? Certainly not the spice gene alone, since chillies take e'er been life here in our part of the earth. Nor is it the quality of the ingredients, which you often cease up hardly tasting.
If you enquire me, information technology's the all-or-nothing nature of diving into an immersive repast that requires yous to exist fully nowadays. Information technology requires you to submit.
When I order a mala dish and the server asks, "Would you like Mild, Medium or Extra Spicy?", my encephalon says, "Mild"; my stomach says, "Medium"; but my mouth always blurts, "Extra spicy, please."
Why? Because it'south at that place. You know, similar Mount Everest.
It's not shiok unless you're wearing a napkin as a bib to preclude oil splatters on your clothes, sweating like a pig, gasping for air, blowing your olfactory organ into soggy tissues and crying until your mascara runs. There's no wishy-washy nibbling, grazing, dieting or first-date-impressing here. It'south all or zip.
READ: Dorsum chor mee grilled cheese and salted egg hotpot: 7 unusual foods in Singapore
We willingly inflict this red-hot torture on ourselves, I think, for pretty much the same reason that people spend thousands of dollars to jump out of planes in search of a thrill.
In a saturated dining scene that offers all manner of sugariness, salty, sour, bitter and umami taste combinations, spicy mala food adds an actress layer of sensorial feel: It combines the sense of taste with the sense of touch.
READ: Confessions of a wannabe social media 'influencer': The time I tried to sell noodles
Never mind that "affect" takes the form of heat and numbness that ultimately translate into pain. When you lot observe yourself really enjoying a spicy mala dish that sets your oral fissure on fire and makes your tongue feel zapped with electricity, you can begin to sympathize the appeal of later-nighttime activities that are labelled deviant and involve leather, Dakota Johnson and a number of shades of grey.
And never mind that the next morning, y'all might end up clutching your stomach and questioning your decisions. It's always a 50 Offset Dates situation: Ii days later, yous'll have forgotten all well-nigh the pain and started to crave mala again.
This also explains why people stumble out of ane bad relationship and straight into the next: Our brains are very good at obliterating past trauma.
Mala, of course, isn't an everyday treat. Information technology's an event. A self-contained occasion in itself. A celebration of being fully, painfully, sense-tinglingly alive. To paraphrase the immortal words of Britney Spears: Striking me, auntie, 1 more time. And make it Extra Spicy, delight.
randolphmazince1984.blogspot.com
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/ode-to-mala-the-joy-of-pleasure-and-pain-sichuan-flavour-251461
0 Response to "Mala addicts unite: Celebrating the pleasure and pain of fiery masochism"
Post a Comment