I believe that Indian restaurants make food less spicy for non-Indian patrons and spicier (or at least regular spicy) for Indian patrons. This belief stems from a) Indian friends telling me that the white-washed Indian restaurants they've gone to aren't nearly as spicy as home, and b) me ordering the spiciest dishes (generally vindaloo) and not being phased by the spiciness.
I'd like to run some experiments to determine how true this is. I have practically zero experimental design experience and would like input/advice.
Here's my basic plan:
Order vindaloo takeout under a white name and pick up
Wait 30 min to prevent order batching
Order vindaloo takeout under an Indian name and pick up
Cool both in the refrigerator for two hours (this is to blind me to which dish is which by temperature)
Mark both to distinguish white vs. Indian (do this in a way that doesn't allow me to see)
Heat them both up evenly
Randomize so I don't know which dish I am eating
Sample one dish
Cleanse my palate (to start at spiciness zero)
Sample the other dish
Compare the two dishes' spiciness
I think recruiting a friend or two would help to add more data points and make the blinding easier/less prone to failure.
Open to any thoughts. And if you're in the Dallas area and interested in participating, let me know!
I believe that Indian restaurants make food less spicy for non-Indian patrons and spicier (or at least regular spicy) for Indian patrons. This belief stems from a) Indian friends telling me that the white-washed Indian restaurants they've gone to aren't nearly as spicy as home, and b) me ordering the spiciest dishes (generally vindaloo) and not being phased by the spiciness.
I'd like to run some experiments to determine how true this is. I have practically zero experimental design experience and would like input/advice.
Here's my basic plan:
Order vindaloo takeout under a white name and pick up
Wait 30 min to prevent order batching
Order vindaloo takeout under an Indian name and pick up
Cool both in the refrigerator for two hours (this is to blind me to which dish is which by temperature)
Mark both to distinguish white vs. Indian (do this in a way that doesn't allow me to see)
Heat them both up evenly
Randomize so I don't know which dish I am eating
Sample one dish
Cleanse my palate (to start at spiciness zero)
Sample the other dish
Compare the two dishes' spiciness
I think recruiting a friend or two would help to add more data points and make the blinding easier/less prone to failure.
Open to any thoughts. And if you're in the Dallas area and interested in participating, let me know!
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