Zesty ingredient with a punch was initially thought to boost the sexual desire of women; today indulging is seen as a form of social bonding
The pungent, heat-infused foodstuff is so ubiquitous people joke that if a person does not indulge, they will starve, or at best lose friends, because eating spicy things fosters social bonding.
However, the popular ingredient has only been around in China for a relatively short time.
It first entered the country 400 years ago and people have been eating it for about three centuries.
This is revealed in a book titled The History of Chinese People Eating Chili Peppers, written by Cao Yu, a researcher from Sun Yat-sen University in southern Guangdong province.
