I Tried The World's Spiciest Snacks

0:00 Today, I'm tasting the spiciest snacks in the world!

0:02 From melt-your-face-off street food in Thailand...

0:04 Oh, my God!

0:06 to this insane creation in Mexico.

0:08 Because I want to know who has the best, most addictive spicy snacks.

0:12 So let's get started in India with Chef Saransh,

0:15 who's starting us off with the hottest chili in India.

0:18 It is called Naga chili, Raja Mirch, or ghost pepper,

0:21 because you might not exist after you consume this.

0:27 Oh, yeah!

0:29 That's hot!

0:30 He's just biting again into it!

0:33 I think I'm gonna finish it.

0:34 It just puts me to shame!

0:35 My God, it's really not bad.

0:37 Oh!

0:38 Oh!

0:39 Hold on.

0:41 It's kicking in!

0:42 Woo!

0:42 Oh, yeah!

0:42 Uh!

0:43 Honestly, spiciness?

0:44 I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.

0:46 It's hot.

0:47 In terms of enjoyment, I'll give it a 6.8.

0:49 It's really tasty.

0:50 It actually tastes good.

0:51 This is up there.

0:52 I know you might have been expecting a bag of chips, or a One Chip Challenge.

0:55 But every country snacks differently, and that's exactly what we're doing here.

0:58 Think about it; the world's obsessed with spicy snacks.

1:00 It's a combination of salty, sweet heat...

1:03 Ah!

1:03 that constantly makes you want to go back for another bite.

1:05 Although in this case, I'm not sure I want to.

1:07 So we'll be eating snacks from the most famous

1:09 to the most nuclear that they have to offer.

1:11 But next up are dumplings known as momos,

1:13 and I can only pray they're more forgiving.

1:15 Probably the best momos you can find.

1:16 They do a spicy chutney, but if you ask for the Lama Special,

1:20 they put the chutney all around the momo.

1:22 It looks very spicy.

1:24 If there's a spicy snack...

1:25 if I've ever seen one, this is one of them.

1:27 Oh, my God!

1:27 It's so hot.

1:28 I ate the whole thing.

1:30 It's hot, but it's not, like, so aggressive that it kills you.

1:33 But this is of key, key, key, key importance: It is a consistent heat.

1:37 It's not like it hits you and then it fizzles out right away.

1:39 This is, like, coating my whole mouth.

1:40 As you exhale...

1:41 you feel that heat.

1:43 As you inhale...

1:44 you feel that heat.

1:45 I love this because it's an addictive spice, not a "kill you" spice.

1:49 I would give it like a 4.5 out of 10 on the heat level.

1:52 I think that sounds about good.

1:53 This is a good heat level, nice and light.

1:58 Whoa!

1:58 Are you...

1:58 can you handle this?

1:59 Are you okay?

2:00 Clearly, Joshua's winning this one.

2:02 I see stars!

2:04 Overall, although they were delicious, I'd give about a 7.5 out of 10.

2:07 Woo!

2:07 I feel the heat turning up!

2:08 We got more.

2:09 On to the next.

2:10 Now onto our final dishes in India, one of which I know I'm gonna regret.

2:14 Josh, I have two levels of spice for you here.

2:16 This is from Andhra Pradesh, which is down south.

2:19 This is called Andhra-style chili chicken, made with lots of green chilies.

2:23 You might have thought, "Oh, it's spinach," 'cause that's what I thought.

2:25 It's not.

2:26 And your second one is from Maharashtra, which is essentially called Misal Pav.

2:30 You dunk this pillowy, soft pav in the super hot,

2:33 the spiciest Misal Pav that you can get.

2:35 Oh, I thought you were saying "missile," like it's gonna blow up my mouth...

2:39 I hope it does!

2:40 Well, I don't.

2:41 Shall we start with the chili chicken?

2:44 Mmm!

2:45 That's so good.

2:46 It's more of a warming heat than it is like a bang, bang, bang.

2:49 I would put it on a 2 out of 10 on the spicy scale,

2:51 but the flavor of the chili is maxed out.

2:53 My ideal spicy snack is where it's like a 2 to a 4 on heat,

2:55 but they're coaxing all the flavor out of the chili.

2:58 I hate it when something's just spicy for the sake of being spicy.

3:00 Now let's try this one.

3:01 Take a bit of this namkeen, as we call it.

3:02 It's like a fried snack that you add to this before you dunk it with the pav.

3:06 How about we just scoop it and have it with the namkeen?

3:09 Oh, sure.

3:09 Okay.

3:09 Oh!

3:10 Oh, God!

3:11 Creeps up on you a little bit.

3:12 Yeah, it just...

3:13 it's in your throat.

3:14 Yeah.

3:15 The reason why is because it's in a liquid state.

3:16 The heat is delayed, so you don't really get a chance for it to, like,

3:19 coat your palate before you swallow it.

3:21 So you swallow it thinking you're okay, but then it activates.

3:22 But this is another good example of balance, though.

3:24 It's not too bad.

3:25 Hotter!

3:25 We've taken it up a step.

3:26 We're in, like, the four-to-five region.

3:28 It's getting hot.

3:29 Okay, so we're done.

3:31 Wow!

3:31 Uh-uh!

3:32 I have a small surprise for you.

3:34 I hope it's a kiss.

3:35 This was two for you, and this was four or five for you.

3:38 I have a 10 for you.

3:39 Is this like Jolochip, the Indian version...

3:41 Yes!

3:42 of the One Chip Challenge?

3:43 You know that that's illegal in America now.

3:45 It's manufactured in India.

3:46 Of course it's illegal in America!

3:49 I did not make that joke.

3:50 Holy...

3:51 Okay, why are you stepping back?

3:53 Smells kind of good.

3:54 This smells kind of good, right?

3:55 It smells like RIP, I think.

3:57 All right, I'm doing one bite.

3:59 I'm just tasting.

4:03 Yeah.

4:04 Okay...

4:05 not so bad.

4:06 Oh, yeah!

4:07 Oh, yeah!

4:08 Woo!

4:09 Oh, yeah!

4:09 Oh, yeah!

4:11 Oh, I feel it.

4:12 This doesn't taste as bad as I thought it would.

4:14 It is extremely hot.

4:15 I'm building it.

4:16 I'm salivating.

4:17 I've had ghost pepper intensified hot sauces, and they usually taste terrible.

4:21 It's all about heat, and this tastes okay.

4:22 Heat level, probably an 8; flavor, maybe a 3.

4:25 Not a good example of a spicy snack.

4:27 Oh, yeah, it's hot.

4:28 It's a little hot, but I'm resisting.

4:30 It's like a metaphor for life: Ups and downs.

4:32 Things get better, things get worse,

4:34 but they'll always get better one way or another.

4:36 Unless you die.

4:36 We move on.

4:38 It's no surprise India brought the heat.

4:40 We now make our way to China, more specifically Chengdu,

4:44 the heart of Sichuan, where their legendary Sichuan peppercorns numb the palate.

4:48 A little something called Mala.

4:50 There's nothing else like it.

4:51 And supposedly, it's next level here.

4:54 Then we have Harry, a local food writer,

4:56 who claims he's gonna be easing me in with chili-covered rabbit heads.

5:00 Honestly, kind of hype about this.

5:01 This is actually quite a challenge for any

5:03 foreigner who tries rabbit head first time.

5:05 Let's see how you tackle it.

5:07 I'm gonna get my finger underneath the meat

5:08 just so that it's a little loosened up.

5:09 Pop the cheek out.

5:10 There's the cheek.

5:11 And then...

5:11 Mmm!

5:12 Mmm.

5:12 Ah!

5:13 Super good!

5:13 The heat level is very tolerable.

5:14 It's got a good umami.

5:15 It makes me kind of think of, like, a similar heat level to Lao Gan Ma.

5:18 Maybe a little bit hotter.

5:19 Now I'm holding in my hand is hand-shredded rabbit.

5:22 It's the body part of the rabbit.

5:24 This is a perfect snack because it's spicy, chewy,

5:27 and you can just enjoy it while you drink a lot of, like, alcohol.

5:32 So let's try that.

5:33 FYI, you eat it wrong.

5:34 I ate it wrong?

5:35 Yeah.

5:35 The steps are all wrong.

5:37 What was wrong with it?

5:37 You split the upper and the lower teeth, yeah,

5:40 then you suck the meat out of the lower part,

5:43 then you will get a very clean jawbone.

5:46 This is really good!

5:47 It's juicy, it's got multiple layers of texture, salted perfectly.

5:50 It's got just the right amount of heat where, like,

5:53 it sticks to your lips and your lips are tingling a little bit.

5:55 But it's not, like, overwhelming at all.

5:56 Overall, I would give this, like, a nine out of ten.

5:58 We value, you know, fragrance more than spiciness.

6:01 The fragrance should come before spiciness because pure spiciness is boring.

6:06 Onto the next!

6:07 This next spot has got me hyped.

6:08 A Chinese convenience store.

6:10 I love a little convenience store snack,

6:12 but I know Harry's trying to light me up.

6:14 Here we got shredded beef bites,

6:16 which are quite literally vacuum sealed, like a little spice bomb.

6:18 And his favorite chips...

6:21 says "Explosive".

6:22 Yeah, "Explosive"!

6:24 Hot and spicy.

6:25 Wow, okay.

6:26 It has all these beautiful dried chilies, potato chips on the front.

6:30 And the smell smells strongly of Sichuan peppercorn.

6:33 Shall we dig in?

6:35 Mmm!

6:36 No, it's good.

6:37 It's very light.

6:37 It's a light spicy.

6:38 The one thing I will say is, as you eat more of these, the oil of the chili

6:42 slowly begins to coat your palate more and more.

6:44 So it starts not so spicy, like a one, then it builds to a two,

6:48 three, but it kind of tops out at a three and a half.

6:50 This is a very desirable spicy, like, addictive.

6:53 And I'm starting to get that numbing spice.

6:54 This is lovely.

6:55 This is supposedly spicier.

6:56 It's like a kind of like a jerky almost.

6:58 Oh!

6:59 There's a little bit of heat in there.

7:00 Yeah, it's getting there, right?

7:02 Whoa!

7:02 Okay.

7:03 Oh, this is so good.

7:04 This is rich.

7:05 This is almost like having, like, hot pot in the form of jerky.

7:08 It's like sweet beef, and it's spicy, and it's numbing.

7:11 4 out of 10 on the heat scale.

7:13 It's better than any jerky I've ever had.

7:15 For jerky, this is like an 8.

7:16 It's great because now I'm getting my protein in.

7:18 I'm carb loading.

7:21 Looking for more heat.

7:22 We stopped for a light street-side snack, and I have to say,

7:24 I think Harry might have been baiting me

7:26 a little bit here with the first snacks,

7:27 because these spring rolls look like trouble.

7:29 I think...

7:30 You have already tried the Vietnam version, right?

7:33 Yes.

7:34 But, in Sichuan, we don't fry it.

7:35 We just wrap it, and then we put some, like, really good sauce on it.

7:38 I'm excited to try it.

7:39 Let's go in.

7:40 It's hot.

7:41 It is hot!

7:42 God, that is a...

7:44 That is a banger!

7:45 That is so, so good.

7:47 I don't ever want another spring roll ever again unless it's this.

7:49 The texture, it's soft on the outside, crunchy on the inside.

7:52 And the way that these are made, they, like, soak up that chili oil,

7:55 and there's a little bit of vinegar in there too.

7:57 So it's sour, spicy, salty.

7:59 And then you have these crunchy vegetables in the middle.

8:00 Out of all the snacks we've had in Chengdu thus far,

8:03 this has been the spiciest and also,

8:05 in my opinion, one of the most exciting and flavorful.

8:08 It beats out any spring roll I've ever had.

8:10 Even the crunchy fried ones, I don't even miss them.

8:12 It's like a 9 out of 10.

8:13 If you do not have a spice tolerance,

8:15 you might not be able to handle this one, but this is...

8:17 It's worth fighting for.

8:18 It's worth the teary eyes and the runny nose.

8:19 Bar none, one of my favorite little spicy snacks we've had on the video so far.

8:25 Onto the next!

8:26 All right, so Harry wasn't lying.

8:27 A braised spicy skewer is next.

8:28 I'm going to be honest, this sounds right up my alley,

8:31 but it could also still be deadly.

8:32 Many skewers, many a snack.

8:34 It's called "La Lu Chuan-chuan".

8:36 They put it in a very hot sauce with multiple flavors.

8:39 All sorts of offal: duck tongue, tripe, intestines, stomach lining, heart.

8:44 Yeah, just try one of them.

8:46 Oh, so...

8:47 oh!

8:48 Oh, it's spicy...

8:49 Oh, it's so fragrant, though!

8:53 It's like a perfect example of a snack because most snacks are small bites,

8:58 easily eaten, but powerfully flavored.

9:00 This is duck's intestine.

9:03 This is tripe.

9:06 I don't know what that is.

9:07 All I know is that my lips are tingling, my tongue is going numb.

9:10 But I love it, though.

9:12 I love every second of it.

9:13 So you were biting it before.

9:14 Now they are biting you, right?

9:16 Yeah.

9:17 Yeah!

9:18 Are you sweating?

9:19 Yeah, that's...

9:20 Sweating a little bit...

9:21 You're sweating.

9:22 Sorry, I'm the shame of Sichuan!

9:25 The spice that people are typically used to...

9:27 It's the sensation of stinging, burning.

9:30 This is very different.

9:31 What you're getting really intensely is numbing,

9:34 like this almost cooling effect in your mouth,

9:36 and it's almost like static electricity.

9:38 This is taking it a step up on the spicy scale,

9:41 but it's not taking it a step down on the flavor and enjoyability scale.

9:45 And for that, I'm giving it another nine.

9:47 This is a great little snack.

9:49 I think everybody can enjoy this, but I do think that those who are wary

9:52 of spicy are gonna be pushing the gas

9:54 pedal a little harder than they were anticipating,

9:56 which makes it a little fun, right?

9:58 Or order more beer.

9:59 Should we get a beer?

10:00 Yeah, let's have a beer.

10:01 Ah!

10:03 Yeah...

10:04 Wow, China was a true journey.

10:06 But now it's time for the nuclear option.

10:09 It's a stretch to call it a snack.

10:11 It's as close to a snack as we could find with a nuclear option.

10:14 Although this is the Sichuan region,

10:16 they don't really like to blow their mouths up, which I can respect.

10:18 So this place offers five different levels of spicy.

10:21 This is level number five.

10:22 It is the spiciest option they have.

10:25 So spicy that they force you to sign a waiver.

10:28 Oh my God, there's that many?

10:29 I don't even know what this says.

10:30 If there is any trouble caused by the spiciness,

10:33 the shop doesn't take any responsibility.

10:35 I can't fucking read this!

10:36 I just signed it.

10:37 And I explained it to you...

10:39 After I signed it!

10:41 All I smell is Sichuan.

10:43 Why are people walking up to us?

10:44 We're garnering an audience for these noodles right now.

10:47 Oh, oh, oh, perfect.

10:49 I think the key here is: don't slurp.

10:51 Cause if you slurp too hard and it hits your lungs,

10:54 then you're gonna get fucked up.

10:59 Oh, it's hitting.

11:01 Oh, it's hitting!

11:02 Here's what I'll say: it's hot and I feel it,

11:04 and it's increasing in temperature.

11:05 But out of all the spicy...

11:06 good Lord!

11:11 Okay, it's getting you.

11:12 It's really hot.

11:13 On a scale of 1 to 10 on spicy, I'd give it like a 7.8.

11:16 It's up there, maybe even an 8.

11:17 What makes this bad is the oil.

11:19 Because the oil doesn't go away.

11:21 It stays.

11:21 It lingers.

11:23 It's an eight.

11:24 In terms of enjoyability, though, it is still really good.

11:28 I'd give it like a 7, a 6.8 out of 10.

11:31 Because the heat is so much that it is dragging down the experience.

11:33 Now, before we left, for some reason,

11:35 everybody saw my reaction and thought, "Oh, yeah,

11:37 that sounds like a good idea to try." I think what they

11:39 didn't realize was I have a bigger spice tolerance than most would think.

11:42 Okay, it's too much for me.

11:44 Sorry.

11:44 Out of 10, how spicy is it?

11:46 It's a 12!

11:50 While everyone's trying to breathe and Harry's

11:52 contemplating maybe his life choices, I'm moving on.

11:54 Because what's next, I would argue,

11:56 has been touted as some of the spiciest food.

12:00 Of course, I'm referring to ordering things "Thai spicy."

12:03 The spicy snack journey continues here with Mark Wiens.

12:07 I'm interested to see where this is gonna go,

12:08 'cause I know that you can modify the spiciness depending on what the dish is.

12:11 Because a lot of dishes are cooked after you order them.

12:14 They're customizable.

12:15 There's no limits to the amount of spice you can eat.

12:17 I would like to survive.

12:18 That's my one ask.

12:20 Let's begin.

12:21 Of course, Mark's first snack has entire chilies chopped up and thrown into it.

12:25 So in Thai It's called Miang Kham, and it is a wild betel leaf as the base;

12:28 it's the leaf that she wraps everything in.

12:29 She adds in peanuts, toasted coconut,

12:31 a whole sliver or chunk of lime, ginger, shallots, and a sweet paste.

12:35 I like to call it an herbal candy.

12:37 So you plop the whole thing in your mouth.

12:38 I'm scared.

12:39 You know what?

12:40 Sometimes you gotta dink it and sink it, baby!

12:42 Mm.

12:42 Oh, my God.

12:43 It's amazing.

12:43 Amazing!

12:44 And just when you think you figured out the flavor,

12:46 you get hit with a new flavor.

12:47 The heat is like teasing you.

12:48 The heat starts to climb, but then the sweetness brings it back down.

12:51 Heat starts to climb, and then a little acid kicks in and knocks it back down.

12:54 So balanced.

12:54 This might be the best way to enjoy a chili,

12:56 because you get that unadulterated chili fragrance.

12:59 But the sweetness and the acidity and all

13:00 sort of the other ingredients distract you

13:02 from the heat in a way that you really get to appreciate the flavor of it.

13:05 People think, like, sometimes Thai food is a chili challenge.

13:07 But no, it's about whenever there's chili,

13:09 there also has to be a counterbalance.

13:11 Whether that be acidity, whether that be some sweetness.

13:13 Everything is taken into consideration to maximize your taste buds.

13:17 That was incredible.

13:17 Should I just give it a nine?

13:18 I'll just give it a nine for spice.

13:20 Frankly, it wasn't that spicy.

13:21 I'd say about a 3 out of 10.

13:22 Surprisingly, now, if we're starting off this good,

13:25 I cannot wait for what else Thailand has to offer.

13:27 So this one's unique because it's a sausage.

13:29 This is the fermented sausage fermented with rice and pork.

13:32 What you do, because there's no chilies inside the sausage,

13:34 you always chase it with a green chili.

13:36 And also, you gotta get some young ginger.

13:38 Definitely.

13:38 It is a requirement.

13:39 It's mandatory to eat this with green chilies.

13:41 You have to.

13:42 Cheers.

13:43 Cheers.

13:44 Yeah.

13:44 Put the whole chili in your mouth.

13:45 You put the whole chili?

13:46 Not too spicy.

13:47 Oh, yeah.

13:48 I'm okay.

13:48 I'm okay.

13:49 I was really expecting that chili to be super hot.

13:50 It wasn't bad at all.

13:51 I think it's because of the sausage.

13:52 The sausage has a lot of acidity from the fermentation.

13:54 It's got a sour tartness to it.

13:56 Almost like a salami in a way that helps cut the heat a little bit.

13:59 It's more tolerable.

14:00 You get to enjoy the fragrance,

14:01 the fruitiness from the chili without killing your mouth.

14:04 Sometimes you gotta just trust the process.

14:05 Honestly, this is like an 8.5 for me.

14:07 Phenomenal!

14:08 This would pop off in LA.

14:09 I'm gonna eat a spicy one here, and then I'm gonna regret saying that.

14:11 Moving on.

14:12 Woo!

14:12 I'm scared.

14:14 There's a lot of chili in here, Mark.

14:15 Okay, so we're gonna eat something called nam phrik,

14:17 which literally is like a chili dip.

14:18 It's a variety of different chilies which have been charred.

14:21 Also some shallots charred in there, maybe some herbs,

14:23 maybe some galangal, garlic, and pounded up into a chili dip.

14:26 And you would choose your fish or your vegetables to then dip it.

14:28 You'll find many different varieties,

14:30 and I think it's actually one of the lesser-known

14:32 traditional Thai foods that should be eaten more often.

14:34 Oh, it smells amazing.

14:35 They add fish sauce, usually gives it that extra salty umami, depth of flavor.

14:39 The fish chips to go with this?

14:40 These are fried pieces of fish.

14:43 Whoa.

14:44 The fish chip is amazing.

14:45 It's so clean-tasting and, like, unbelievably crispy.

14:48 I thought it was gonna be hard.

14:49 It's very wispy and almost like fatty.

14:50 You crunch and then it just melts.

14:52 And this is so, so good.

14:53 It's not too spicy at all, actually.

14:55 This is like maybe a 2 out of 10 on the spice scale,

14:57 but like, on the flavor scale, it's like a nine.

14:59 This is better than any salsa I've ever had.

15:01 This is really good.

15:02 Phenomenal, but I know they're spicier, so let's move on.

15:05 This is a quick pit stop.

15:06 I don't know how hot this is gonna be.

15:07 These are literally whole fried chilies.

15:08 This became a huge trend a couple years

15:10 ago in Thailand and you see them everywhere.

15:15 There's a little heat in there,

15:16 but really it's just like a little fruity, a little almost smoky, earthy.

15:20 It's a nice little snack, somehow.

15:22 It's addictively tasty and crispy.

15:23 Really good.

15:24 8 out of 10.

15:24 And for spice score, I'd give it yet another shocking 3.5 out of 10.

15:29 It just wasn't that spicy, but it was delicious.

15:31 And I did eat the whole pack and not feel very good.

15:33 Josh, we're gonna have a dish which is called laab next.

15:35 She's selling it right here within the market,

15:37 and she has it bagged and ready to go.

15:39 So most people will get this for takeaway.

15:40 But we asked her to make us a special

15:42 version that's even more spicy than the usual version.

15:44 He was like, "Can you make it more spicy?" And she just kind of, like,

15:47 lightly smiled and then made it.

15:48 There's always a little bit of hesitation because they're like,

15:51 "Are you sure you want it extra spicy?" Shall we?

15:54 Yeah.

15:55 You can see the tons of little chilies in here.

15:57 She definitely amped it up.

15:58 There's so much chili flake in this, so many chili seeds, that when you bite it,

16:01 not only are you crunching on crispy rice, you're crunching on chili seeds.

16:04 That's, like, the majority of the bite.

16:05 But I think the chilies here are more about the actual fragrance.

16:08 Like, it's a little bit of heat, not much,

16:09 but it's that toasty, smoky fragrance that the chilies really provide.

16:12 But the laab itself is so flavorful.

16:14 This is almost like a perfect spicy dish.

16:16 And it's one of those dishes that there's so many different variations.

16:18 You can make it with so many different proteins.

16:19 Everyone has a little bit of a different

16:20 recipe and a different balance of flavor.

16:22 8.8.

16:22 It's a banger.

16:23 3 out of 10 on spicy.

16:24 I can feel the heat, but I'm not dying, though it's balanced.

16:27 A lot of people will say, "Oh, Thai food is so spicy.

16:29 Thai food is so spicy." But if you have a spice tolerance,

16:31 like, really, it's not about blowing your mouth up.

16:33 It's just balance.

16:35 Balance aside, for our final stop, Mark decided I didn't have enough pain,

16:39 so he made sure to light me up

16:41 before I left Thailand with a true, high-spicy snack.

16:43 Khot phet khrap!

16:45 Sai yi-sip met.

16:46 Why is he laughing about it?

16:47 He's like, "Do you really want it spicy!?!" Like, really spicy.

16:54 So we made it to the nuclear option.

16:56 We asked for the spiciest papaya salad we could possibly get.

16:59 Som tam.

16:59 I mean, you can tell by looking at it

17:02 there's more chili than there is shreds of papaya.

17:04 There's a lot of chilies in there.

17:05 Dry chilies, fresh chilies.

17:06 All right.

17:07 Okay, Mark, if you're gonna get all the chilies, I'll do it too.

17:09 Come on, Josh.

17:10 We're going all in, man!

17:11 All right.

17:11 All right, all right.

17:12 I am nervous.

17:12 But you know what, though?

17:13 Because Mark is here, I feel protected by an angel.

17:16 Cheers.

17:16 Cheers.

17:17 Here we go.

17:18 Oh, it's kicking in.

17:19 It's kicking in!

17:21 Mark doesn't care.

17:22 Let me get another bite there.

17:23 Mark, if you're doing it, I'm doing it.

17:25 Oh, my God!

17:26 How do you keep going, man?

17:28 You're a monster!

17:29 It's spicy, but it's really good.

17:31 It's so bouncy, salty, just a hint of sweetness.

17:33 That fermented complexity.

17:34 Yep.

17:35 Also has this great acidity to it, too.

17:37 I love the lime juice.

17:38 He adds in a little bit of tamarind water as well, give it some sourness.

17:41 Is that the part hitting me in the face?

17:43 But you know what, though?

17:43 I still want to go back in for another bite.

17:45 It's not so hot that I'm like, "Oh,

17:47 I can't keep eating this." It also has an addictive

17:49 sort of umami to it from that fermented fish sauce.

17:51 A little bit of funk.

17:52 Oh, my God, it hit the back of my throat!

17:53 How is it getting hotter, though?

17:55 I don't understand salads like this.

17:56 I think because of the mix of chilies, because they pound them up,

17:59 it takes a few minutes for the real power of the chili to kick in.

18:01 Out of all the som tam I've had—I've had a lot—and

18:04 this is better than 90% of the ones I've had in America.

18:07 Solid 9 out of 10.

18:07 But there is a lot of pain.

18:09 I was kind of surprised that they didn't have the outright spicy snacks here,

18:12 but at the end of the day,

18:13 Thailand had me coming back for more and more and more,

18:16 and maybe that's how spicy snacks are supposed to be.

18:18 It's not just about lighting your mouth up.

18:20 But we still have two countries to go.

18:21 Now we're on to Seoul, Korea.

18:23 But before our guide arrived,

18:24 I did some solo heat hunting at a street food market right outside our hotel.

18:28 Spicy tteokbokki.

18:29 It's like a rice cake, basically.

18:30 This is also hot, by the way, by the looks of it.

18:33 Cheers.

18:33 Oh.

18:34 A lot of the tteokbokkis I've had prior are a lot more,

18:36 like, savory, very garlicky, very rich, very salty.

18:39 The tteokbokki is more like spicy-sweet.

18:40 Like heavy, heavy, heavy on the sugar, which I have no problem with.

18:43 I'm a fan.

18:44 Umami's good.

18:44 The garlic's nice.

18:45 The texture of the actual rice cake—so much better than what you would get

18:49 in the US—it's so soft and luscious and pillowy and chewy and just banging.

18:52 Dude, this is an addictive bite.

18:54 Flavor is maximum.

18:55 I think it's like a solid 7.5.

18:56 And for spice, I'd give it a solid 6.5 out of 10.

18:59 The more I ate it, the hotter it got.

19:00 It's not my first pick, but it is a delicious one.

19:03 Moving on...

19:03 further down, I found some grilled chicken skewers advertising a spicy bomb.

19:07 Yeah, that should do.

19:08 I'm a little nervous about this one.

19:09 They're calling this "Spicy Bomb" chicken skewer.

19:11 We were just walking.

19:12 We found this.

19:13 Cheers.

19:13 Oh, God, that's hot!

19:15 Whew!

19:16 Okay, first bite, you get that crispy, sort of nice chicken thigh.

19:19 It's seasoned pretty well.

19:20 Cooked nicely.

19:21 It's not dry.

19:21 It's moist, sweet, garlicky, salty umami.

19:23 And then just this churning heat building up in my mouth.

19:26 I don't know what the heat is coming from, but it's like a sharp, stabbing...

19:29 spicy pain.

19:30 It's not, like, debilitating.

19:32 It's verging the edge of not being comfortable.

19:34 I do like this one a little more than the tteokbokki.

19:36 I'll give it a 7.9.

19:37 Moving on.

19:38 Still recovering from that chicken skewer, we started the next day with the goal

19:42 of trying the spiciest convenience store ramen in the world.

19:45 However, we encountered one problem.

19:47 It's actually finding the damn thing.

19:48 I just keep seeing meat snacks.

19:50 I don't know where to find it.

19:53 Found it!

19:55 Yes.

19:56 Joining us in Korea is our friend Kim.

19:58 Now listen, I know a lot of people would consider instant ramen a meal,

20:01 but we heard a little bit of debate.

20:02 Some people would call it a snack, so we might as well count it.

20:05 Plus, it's also extremely spicy here in Korea.

20:08 You're scaring me.

20:09 You said, "I don't think you can handle this." Should we just dive in?

20:12 Okay.

20:17 My throat is burning.

20:18 It's spicy.

20:19 The broth has a building heat, but I'm not, like, dying, though.

20:22 Honestly, I thought that those chicken skewers

20:24 were like three times hotter than this.

20:26 For overall enjoyment, I'd give it a nice 6.8 out of 10.

20:28 On the spiciness scale, I would give it like a 5 out of 10.

20:31 Moving on...

20:32 I really felt like there was something spicier here in Korea.

20:35 When we did a little research,

20:36 we found a little thing called ambulance tteokbokki.

20:39 While it didn't smell that spicy,

20:40 I was quickly hit directly in the mouth with chili.

20:44 Definitely makes my mouth water.

20:46 Despite the heat, I thought it was a super craveable dish.

20:49 I love that about spicy Korean food.

20:50 Heat pushed, but never surpassing the quality of the flavor.

20:53 Overall, I really like this.

20:54 An 8 out of 10.

20:55 But the spicy score...

20:56 I wouldn't say nuclear, but a good 7 out of 10.

20:59 Pretty hot.

21:00 Asia still shocked me with how different spice was in each country.

21:03 Now on to our next stop, Mexico City, a place that always delivers on flavor.

21:07 But are they really going to be able to get me with their heat?

21:11 Joining me again is my good friend Gabby Renteria,

21:13 who'll be taking us to the spiciest places she could find,

21:17 starting with an esquites filled to the brim with Takis and habanero hot sauce.

21:21 There are these gorgeous, massive clay pots set over charcoal, steaming away.

21:25 This is some old world sh*t.

21:27 It's so beautiful.

21:28 The most beautiful thing is that...

21:30 it's totally fresh.

21:31 You have the esquite.

21:32 It's cooked with habanero and chile de árbol seco, like dried chile de árbol.

21:36 It's already...

21:36 spicy.

21:37 Like, the preparation is already spicy.

21:39 And then they add habanero.

21:40 Spicy chile piquín, we call it, but habanero-based.

21:43 And this beautiful sauce that makes my mouth water.

21:46 So it's a homemade preparation.

21:47 Are you eating this with me or am I by myself here?

21:49 I'm worried about my gastritis later today.

21:52 Ha!

21:54 This is spicy.

21:56 That is phenomenal.

21:57 Acidity is perfect.

21:58 I love that she added more salt.

22:02 It's a woman after my heart.

22:03 When she was putting the salt on, I was like,

22:05 "She knows, she gets it." She can dance.

22:07 Oh sh*t!

22:08 Oh sh*t, hey!

22:12 She was teaching me a few moves.

22:13 This is great.

22:14 Oh, my God...

22:15 I think...

22:15 Oh it's hitting me.

22:17 This is spicy.

22:18 This powder is crazy.

22:20 You're not making a face.

22:21 I told you.

22:21 I have a high spice tolerance.

22:23 First of all, the flavor of the habanero is so fragrant.

22:26 It's seasoned perfectly too.

22:27 What I love about this is it's not just like a fire bomb.

22:30 It's also, like, got the creaminess from the mayo.

22:32 Whatever, you know, as in the US, this is like 10x that.

22:34 This is a different varietal of corn that they're

22:36 cooking fresh and serving like this is unbelievable.

22:39 5.5 out of 10 on spicy.

22:40 Perfect level of heat.

22:41 It stings and it bites, and then it goes away pretty quickly.

22:44 It's really well balanced.

22:45 The flavor, the salty acidity.

22:46 Overall, easy.

22:47 Eight and a half for me.

22:48 Crazy that this is a snack because I could eat this all day long.

22:50 But we have to move on.

22:51 Honestly, it looks more deceiving.

22:52 It's a crazy dish.

22:54 An incredible bite.

22:55 Not really a challenge on heat for me.

22:57 Maybe a more classical Mexican dish can change that.

23:00 We're here in Propio, a restaurant with two very close amazing young chefs.

23:04 So I asked them to prepare, like, a very classic aguachile.

23:07 Aguachile is one of the most amazing

23:10 preparations from the north part of the country.

23:12 It's gonna be shrimp with lime, spicy and amazing chile that is the chiltepin.

23:16 A lot of people will say that this is a whole meal.

23:18 It is a snack.

23:19 Like normal people in their daily life, they will grab these very fresh...

23:22 ingredients and put it together, you know, like a snack.

23:25 I think this is, like, a shareable snack.

23:26 Yeah.

23:27 You could sit down with this whole plate,

23:28 but I've always felt like this is a snack where you sit down

23:31 with two or three people and you all nibble at it for a little bit,

23:33 and then you go f*ck off and do something.

23:35 So you were saying we should try this by itself?

23:37 I think by itself.

23:38 We can start like that.

23:40 I hope he suffers with this.

23:44 ¡Buenisimo!

23:45 I want to hug you, Alex!

23:46 That's insane.

23:47 That's so good!

23:48 This is the best aguachile I've ever had.

23:50 It's spicy!

23:52 After we took our first bites,

23:54 Chef came in and asked me to try it with tostadas and mayo.

23:57 Oh, my God, it's so good.

23:59 When the mayonnaise, the sauce, the juice,

24:01 the aguachile combines with the mayonnaise...

24:03 creates its own sauce that lacquers the entire thing beautifully.

24:06 Flavors are so fresh.

24:07 At the end of the day, if you're gonna make something spicy,

24:10 fine, make it as hot as you want, but it should be balanced.

24:12 And this is perfectly balanced.

24:13 I'm not trying to kiss your ass.

24:15 I mean, this is, like, one of the best aguachiles I've ever had.

24:18 It kinda, like, resonates back and forth between a 3.5 and a 4 on heat,

24:21 but on flavor, it's like it's...

24:22 10.

24:23 Do you wanna cry?

24:23 He gave you a 10.

24:25 Chefs, thank you so much.

24:27 Unbelievable.

24:27 We could end the video now, but we're not going to.

24:30 Moving on.

24:31 Although I'm left speechless, it left no burn.

24:33 That said, Gaby got a little crazy and brought me to a local bartender

24:37 friend who literally invented a spicy taco

24:39 that's supposedly too spicy for the locals.

24:41 Okay, Joshua, you're ready to suffer.

24:43 This is spicy for me, for him, for everybody.

24:47 What the [bleep] is this?

24:48 Why are you recording me?

24:49 What is this?

24:50 Chile de agua, quesillo, pickled onion, and a macha with chile de árbol,

24:53 a little bit of toasted cinnamon and peanuts.

24:55 This is amazing.

24:56 He's gonna cry.

25:00 It is spicy, but it's like, well balanced.

25:02 It's acidic.

25:02 It's got good texture.

25:04 The cheese is fatty, but also refreshing.

25:06 It's a beautiful taco.

25:06 I have zero issues with it.

25:08 Spice level?

25:09 5.

25:09 Flavor wise?

25:10 9.

25:10 He never cried.

25:11 What am I gonna do?

25:12 Gabby's not giving up without a fight.

25:14 She said the bartender has a little trick up his sleeve,

25:16 making me a margarita laced with chiltepin.

25:18 I don't know what they're trying to do to me here.

25:21 That's that's hot.

25:22 It's hotter than this.

25:23 Smells really spicy.

25:30 [coughs] I'm fine.

25:31 Yeah, that's right.

25:32 Gabby got a taste of her own medicine.

25:33 You see, that's what you get when you play with fire.

25:35 She still has not knocked me out yet.

25:37 So she resorts to her...

25:38 last snack: tortilla chips with a gauntlet of the hottest salsas she could find.

25:43 The last one being a surprise that she has not shown me yet.

25:46 This looks like I'm supposed to clean my car with this.

25:49 They're not even trying to make this look good.

25:52 Oh, God!

25:52 It's on my lip!

25:53 Even though some sauces look scary, none really lit me up,

25:56 which I think they were getting a little bit annoyed at, frankly.

26:00 I've never seen someone so determined to hurt me.

26:02 But okay, now we move on to the supposed surprise.

26:05 Her friend Chef Alejandro makes an insanely spicy homemade salsa macha.

26:08 Oh, my God.

26:09 Look at that!

26:10 Should I just put this whole thing in my mouth?

26:12 Yes.

26:13 I doused my chip in salsa.

26:14 I'm not scared.

26:15 Gabby did not partake.

26:17 Woo!

26:17 Yes!

26:18 We got it!

26:19 Woo!

26:19 Oh, my God, it's hot!

26:21 It's like falling in love and then breaking up.

26:23 First you get lured in, and then you're like, "Oh, wow,

26:25 love couldn't be any better than this." And then all of a sudden,

26:28 they break up with you, and you're like, "Oh,

26:29 why does it hurt so much?" I cannot believe you ate that.

26:33 We survived it.

26:35 Wow.

26:35 So good.

26:36 This is at the top of the pyramid for me.

26:38 This is so good.

26:39 This is exactly what I've been looking for this whole time.

26:41 The whole point of a spicy snack is it should be pushing the levels

26:45 of heat while still maintaining the enjoyability

26:47 of what it is that you're eating.

26:49 If it's so hot, you can't enjoy it, there's no point.

26:51 The level of flavor should surpass the level of heat.

26:54 And the closer you get to that apex, the better off you're gonna be.

26:57 And this is meeting that.

26:58 It's crunchy, it's spicy, it's slightly sweet.

27:00 You have the building heat in it.

27:02 7 on heat, 9.8 on flavor.

27:04 Gabby succeeded, and all it took was a whole spoonful of homemade salsa macha.

27:09 And that's just in one city in Mexico.

27:10 And after this, I think Gabby has some sort

27:12 of new determination to hurt me on our next trip.

27:14 So that's great.

27:15 Really looking forward to that.

27:16 We flew the entire circumference of the earth just to try spicy snacks.

27:21 And what we learned was it's not always about melt-your-face-off heat.

27:25 Spicy snacks and spicy food is all about balance.

27:27 The heat should make you go back for another bite.

27:29 The heat should lift up the experience,

27:31 not pound it down into the ground, including yourself and possibly your toilet.

27:35 But arguably the biggest takeaway is a great

27:37 spicy snack really does not come from a bag.

27:40 It might come from the side of a...

27:41 street.

27:41 Subscribe.

27:41 Love you.

27:42 See you.