Colorful Spices in Istanbul, Turkey
Growing up in Nigeria, it was common to hear food that had pepper in it described as being “pepperish.” So, I am used to that word: pepperish. But, I do believe the correct word is peppery. Today, however, I don’t particularly care about the difference between pepperish or peppery (should I care?). My gripe is with the use of the word “spicy.”
It was when I moved to the US that I heard the word “spicy” used more often than pepperish. Over here, spicy usually means one of two things:
- Food that has spices in it (think paprika, thyme, curry powder), or
- Food that has pepper in it, and is therefore ‘hot’ or like I prefer to call it, ‘pepperish.’
More often, I hear people use spicy in the 2nd context, which if you really think about it, makes no sense.
To me, it makes sense to refer to curries like Indian curries and Thai curries as spicy because many of them call for a combination of spices. In addition to being spicy, some of them are also pepperish. So, you can have dishes that are both spicy and pepperish.
Anyway, I can rant all day. But if you go to a regular American restaurant, just know that spicy means it has pepper in it. End of story.
As for me as long as my meal is either spicy or pepperish, I’m a happy camper. My mantra is the hotter the better. Yes, I am biased in favor of pepper. 🙂
What about you? Do you like spicy/pepperish food? Do you care about the difference between the two? Let’s hear it.
Picture Credit: Flickr
Interesting and informative post! (:
Esperchee: I’m glad you found it so. 🙂
Spicy I love. Peppery or Pepperish I love more. All join O.
Temilade: Abi o! All join shay? With pepper or spice, life is good. 🙂
I will always ask if the food is peppery. Any food that is made with spice is called spicy food. People keep using spicy in the context of hot( pepper) which makes no sense to me. I always make fun at the restaurant like “ Hey I like it peppery” Sir did u mean spicy? No I said peppery????. Then he goes confused.
Phew, thank you. Spicy, hot and peppery was confusing a big girl like me ????
I am going to have to disagree. Peppery uses pepper like black pepper or white pepper, sometimes lots of it. Spicy is more like hot peppers such as habanero, jalapenos, and other hot peppers. TBF I was born and raised here in the US and lived in over 15 different places in 53 years and have not heard of a spicy dish called peppery or a dish with lots of black or white pepper called spicy. Something with a lot of spices in it, we call seasoned.