Photo by Farideh Sadeghin
We love spicy food as much as the next guy—or at least we think we do. The problem with anything that’s got chilies in it is that everybody’s tolerance is different. So even if you’re normally the one who wants to add another Serrano to the salsa, you still might end up chugging milk out of the carton as you cry burning tears when your friend from Mexico cooks you dinner.
If your spice tolerance doesn’t align with your dining companions, shishito peppers are the perfect compromise. They’ve got all the flavor of a chili but don’t even register on the Scoville scale. Actually, let us rephrase—about one in every eight to 10 shishitos has a kick, so eating a plate (and you will eat an entire plate) is basically like playing nature’s version of Russian roulette.
Videos by VICE
These guys are the perfect snack: they’re bite-sized, they’re easy AF to make—just throw them in a hot skillet for three minutes, preferably with green onions and arugula—and even though they’re somewhere between tobacco and meth in their addictiveness, they’re about as nutritious as a perfect snack can be.
But if you’ve really got no heat tolerance, it might be a good idea to keep a carton of milk around just in case you lose that game of Russian roulette.
