to think that people don't judge others on their choice of curry?

[MakeMineAKorma]

Was having a conversation with a friend today.

She reckons that people look down on people who choose mild curry as though that is the wimp's choice. (NB my words not hers)

And that liking progressively hotter curries is a rite of passage that you have to go through, almost like a qualification.

I mean, what if you just don't like spicy food?!?

NB I ask this as a curry wimp - I go for the korma every time.

Jamaica patties covered in encona sauce, delicious.

I huge to hate spicy food or hot food or even anything with garlic in. 10 years after meeting DH I now love chillies, garlic, spice, herbs etc. My DF only liked plain food so that is what I was brought up on.

I once made a chilli too hot for me to eat but DH claimed it was mild. I can now eat it hotter than him! I do prefer flavour over heat when it comes to curries though. I much prefer the taste of red chillies to green chillies.

I saw something on TV a bit back that said that people have a different amount of taste buds and as such the less they have the less flavours they can detect and the hotter they can eat curries without it bothering them. If a person is at the higher end of the taste bud scale then a korma may actually taste quite hot and spicy!

Anyone going on about how they love spicy curry give them a phaal and watch them shit blood the next day

Geographical palate differences are so interesting. When DH's mum came to the UK from India, having been born there, she found everything bland.

She has such a great palate, in terms of using spices instead of salt to flavour things. Put a plate of digestives in front of her and she won't be interested. She usually eats like a bird. But give her a box of treats from the Indian sweet shop and she'll demolish them!

UK food is generally quite bland though,i can see why other countries think our food is rubbish,other countries food is much more interesting.

although one thing i will say,is that eating out here is good,lots of options,i think in other countries,they seem to stick to their own cuisine.I lived in Italy for a year and i dont remember seeing any curry houses!

LeGavrOrf, tayyab's is great! Their lamb chops are fantastic. It's very lairy on a Saturday night, though: massive queues of people outside, usually working their way through their byob rations. I think the food is better at lunchtime, when it's not as busy. Saturday nights are fun, though!

OP - at least have a tikka massala thats not even remotely spicy but far nicer than korma

I disagree with everyone saying korma isn't nice. A good korma is lovely and really tasty. It's not 'hot' spicy but has many subtle spices in there.

I think some people do judge. I don't.

I think quite a lot of judging must go on actually, because it appears that sometimes the waiters expect it. For example, whenever I went for curry with my X I would order a madras and he'd have a korma/passanda and about 8/10 the waiter would give him the madras and me the korma. I ordered a new dish that I can't remember how to spell properly the other week which was described as "very hot" and the cook actually came out of the kitchen to check with me!

I don't judge - have what you like and for whatever reason you like. I order the odd korma, though I tend to regret it as they are a bit too rich for me. But I can't see the difference between me finding a korma too rich and others finding a bhuna too spicy.

I normally have a medium curry - bhuna, dupiaza, rogan or sagwala. The downside of that is that my 3 yo likes them too and will nick my leftovers when I have them for breakfast or lunch. Clearly she was born with a tolerance for heat that some adults don't have, though he tried DH's jalfrezi and said it hurt her.

For those of you that are judgy about curry choice, my DMil eats tikka masala...with mashed potato instead of rice.

Curry and mashed po-fucking-taty?

What is the world coming to

"Vindaloo is an artificial construct IIRC"

Actually it isn't. Tikka masala is. Vindaloo comes from the Goa area and has vinegar (vin) and potatoes (aloo) in it.

"I wouldn't eat a vindaloo from a restaurant, they are universally revolting, and usually bulked out with potato."

They are meant to contain potato (the aloo part)

I love Indian food, but can't tolerate anything with too much chilli. It gives me heartburn and sets off my IBS. So I tend to go for the medium dishes. Even a madras is too hot for me. I do use chillies, but not too many. My eyes water at the number of chillies Rick Stein uses in his recipes, especially when he is cooking Thai food. In one dish he put 7 bird eye chillies in and then garnished the dish with yet more. I wouldn't be able to taste anything with that amount of heat in it!

OH has had surgery on his oesophagus and can't tolerate too much heat either.

So does this make us boring and unadventurous then?

The "Indian" restaurants round here are actually Bangladeshi, so they aren't really authentically Indian, but the food is wonderful. I think DD and I will have a takeaway tonight.

Bunbaker our local 'Indian' restaurants are all Bangladeshi or Pakistani too, mostly Halal and a lot of them don't sell alcohol so it's BYOB.

I like Bhuna the best, I don't mind if it's lamb, chicken or King Prawn.

I also love Prawn Puri because the sauce is like Bhuna - very tomato-ey.

A good Bhuna has coriander and is tasty; I went to one restaurant and was disappointed because it was too anglicised and tasted just like stew with no herbs or spices.

It's ages since I had a bhuna. I might have one tonight. I always used to have prawn puri, but nowadays I don't have room for a starter and main. I also like dhansak, dupiaza, rogan josh and one that our local makes called chicken marango. This is a mild curry that has pureed mango in it and is more flavoursome and less sickly than a korma. It is DD's favourite. I love anything with paneer in it as well.

Its take away curry night tonight!

Cant wait. I'm going to stuff my face with madras and masala with a huge garlic and coriander naan.

Get in my belly!

Bun I haven't had a bhuna in years since the slug incident

I'm less judgy than I used to be as since having DD 9 years ago I can't manage hot curries. I like the taste, eat lots of other spicy foods, but more than 2 mouthfuls and I'm finished.

I used to always have madras - it's taken me this long to work my way up to jalfrezi .

DD loves korma... I'm am trying to move her on to tikka masala!

My mum is from India, and an excellent cook. Everyone in my family prefers different heats.

DH on the other hand doesn't like spice, and compared eating rice to eating grass seed (could be the way I cook it ). Our two year old likes spicier food than him.

The ability to tolerate heat, or spice of any sort in DH's case, develops slowly. He is improving, but given a choice it would always be fish and chips over anything more exotic.

KitCat, that sounds like my MIL and FIL!

She (born in India) makes unbelievable curries, chutneys, loads of gorgeous food.

He won't eat mince if it's been near an onion!

Mmmm, want a chicken pathia right now! Going to have to hide this thread, taste buds are going into overdrive.....

Mmm I judge... A real man should be able to eat a jalfrezi at a heat minimum and a friend of a friend (who is annoying) only eats passanders... So I judge people for that too

Still think it. Don't give a fuck if people whinge. I have to say whenever I have met anybody who has said they don't like spicy food I've had an open mind but they've always turned out to be like that.

I think it's symptomatic of a type of personality where once they are used to something they think that's the way it should be and won't countenance anything else different.

My mum sweats if she eat salt and vinegar crisps.