A ghost 🌶️ story

Your intrepid reporter hazards a fast food taste test close to home

I don’t usually regard TV commercials as a personal call to action. But as a correspondent who enjoyed a 40-month posting in India and learned to appreciate the flavors of South Asia — I was intrigued by what I saw during a break in today’s Purdue vs. Ohio State football game. So off to Wendy’s I went after the Buckeyes thrashed the Boilermakers, 45-0. It’s not my usual post-game celebration destination, but there was that commercial. And here’s what happened after I ordered the newest hyped item from the fast-food chain that ironically got its start a few miles south of The Ohio State University campus.

Will Burger King in these United States soon add a breakfast biryani to its menu? Is McDonald’s secretly testing a masala dosa?

I probably won’t order the spicy ghost pepper chicken nuggs again — just as is the case with most other piquant foods that are integrated into Western cuisine it was a mere facsimile of the original flavor, lacking that burst of authentic savoriness — a novelty at best.

Sometimes fusion foods work. Go try the kielbasa quesadilla at Brassero Grill in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

The best dessert I’ve ever had was the wasabi crème brûlée at Wasabi by Morimoto in the Taj Mahal hotels in India. And the world’s best cocktail: The mango makgeolli margarita at Vatos in Seoul.

Many times, however, the chef decides the provincials will never be able to relish the exotic. As they say in Hindi: Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad (How can a monkey appreciate the taste of ginger?)