Texans just love hot sauce. Tabasco? In our baby formula. Sriracha? Why, we sip it to cool off on a Houston summer afternoon. A new book, Hot Sauce Nation, is just out this month, and it dives into “America’s Burning Obsession,” as the book’s subhead puts it. Author Denver Nicks, a regular contributor to Time magazine, examines the endorphin-heavy neurochemical reactions induced by hot sauce and answers the question, What makes eating a painful substance so very pleasurable? We had a few questions ourselves.
Tell us about your education. University or straight into work?
I went to college in Texas and then did a Fulbright in the Philippines, which is where I started in journalism. I started working after that, then went to graduate school at Columbia University to make sure I’d live the rest of my life in debt bondage. Then I started working again.
Tell us about your travel ritual?
Guiltless fast food at the airport, for sure, typically McDonald’s or something equally vile. And if the airline has been naughty I always try to get free booze out of the flight attendants.
If you could have just one chile on a desert island, what would it be?
The habanero. It’s plenty spicy, and I love the way its burn grows slowly and lingers. It’s the most seductive chili.
“At 5 pm, I’m usually thinking about …”
The swimming pool. The front door of my apartment opens up to a swimming pool, and I often work outside in a bathing suit. It’s hot in New Orleans, so I sweat all day and periodically dip in the pool. Around 5 pm I’m usually wrapping up for the day and will take a longer swim, goofing around in the pool for awhile. I love playing in the water.
“Every day I read …”
The New York Times homepage, the Quartz morning email, the front page of Reddit, and some small piece of philosophy, usually related to Taoism or Zen Buddhism. I’m an ordained priest in the Church of the Latter Day Dude, so as a man of the cloth I have to keep my head on straight.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
A pinball machine. It would fit in my apartment, it’s low maintenance, and pinball is rad. And the sounds coming from my place would confound my neighbors.
Tell us about the hottest chile you’ve ever eaten.
I’m not certain, but pound for pound I think it was the ulupica, which I ate a handful of recently in La Paz, Bolivia, and it burned like all hell, much more than anticipated. There’s actually a video of it, though it cuts off right before I start running up the street pleading in random shops for “leche!”
What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
I think my reporting on WikiLeaks and Chelsea Manning, when I was a much younger and totally unestablished independent journalist living and working a lot of the time out of my car or with a girlfriend who was basically supporting me, helped illuminate the story of a very misunderstood person and changed the narrative around one of the biggest international stories of our time.
What is your favorite personal item?
My guitar.
Favorite food and drink pairing?
Cookies and milk, no contest.
Your friend is coming to New Orleans and has never been before. What must they do while they’re there?
In the afternoon, go to Liuzza’s by the Track and order the Creole gumbo. After lunch, get a cocktail to go and take a stroll up Esplanade to City Park. Ask around for the “Singing Oak” or the “Wind Chime Tree.” Eventually someone will point you in the right direction, you’re already close. Quiet yourself as you approach the tree. If there’s someone else sitting under the big oak, smile and nod. Take a seat yourself, sip your cocktail and enjoy the sound of the wind in the tree.