It’s a little difficult to believe there was once a time when hot sauces weren’t on everyone’s lips.
We mean that literally; you know – as they drool and sweat through the glorious pain that comes with capsaicin. And, we also mean that figuratively – as in the fact that people can’t stop talking about super hot sauces.
This isn’t just an American thing either. You know all about Tesco’s supermarket in the UK selling reaper peppers. You’ve also heard about the South African chicken chain, Nando’s, creating some blazing peri peri burgers. What you may not know is that the chain has been known for advertisements that feed both from and into newsworthy stories in the country.
You may have missed it but a Japanese burger chain, J.S. Burgers Café, recently created Ghostbusters burgers as tie-ins to the 2016 franchise release.
Now, the G.B. Burger might put some of you off; it used anchovy paste and black olives to hold the burger patty together. But the hot sauce… oh, the hot sauce… it was a glorious combination of cream and ghost peppers.
It’s easy to see how hot sauces fit easily into popular culture.
Celebs Jump on the Hot Sauce Phenomenon
In July, Super Bowl star, Rob Gronkowski, took on a series of progressively hotter wings – a moment which was (gloriously) recorded on YouTube.
We should let you know that Rob isn’t a fan of hot sauces. This was a challenge he was willing to accept for a shot at 50 seconds to plug his favorite cause.
Not kidding.
Celebs have taken to eating hot wings with Sean Evans on a YouTube series called Hot Ones. This program is produced by First We Feast, and it features a broadcast of celebs willing to battle super hot sauces in the quest for the public good.
That’s an initiative we can totally get behind.
And clearly, celebs from around the world feel the same. Danish Chili Lover, Chili Klaus managed to share some wings with Sean. You may remember him from the stunt he organized with the Danish National Orchestra. You know, where they ate chili peppers and then rather miraculously managed to play an entire song.
Super Hot Sauces Are Here to Stay
While you can watch any number of videos of unprepared (and dangerously stupid) stunts involving hot sauces and chili peppers on YouTube, these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
When you have rock stars, Hollywood starlets, and presidential candidates all willing to stand behind the impressive power of capsaicin, you know that that hot sauces are clearly part of popular culture… and definitely here to stay.