Yeah, the only time it makes sense is when you go to Mexico and get Montezuma’s revenge because I guess my American digestive tract is weak af. My brother lived in Mexico City for a few years. First time I thought it was a bad hangover. Second time thought I ate something funny. Third time I accepted it. And that was it, so apparently you just gotta accept it.

There’s Mexican food and “mexican” food. Taco bell should be illegal it’s a gastrointestinal crime.

I think specifically the oligosaccharides in beans that, if your digestive system has not been accustomed to, will be unpleasant if you all of a sudden ingest a lot of. Also poorly prepared beans that have not been sufficiently soaked, etc. to draw these out.

Same. I don’t eat a ton of spicy food but when I do everything’s normal afterward.

I saw it referenced for example in South Park, and I don’t think South Park would lie about American lore like that.

Maybe you are mistaken, or perhaps just lack a good reference point & don’t know how the rest of the world shits.
(/s)

Yeah, i get that. It’s just that we, on the other side of the pond, also sometimes eat rely spicy food without being exposed to it on a regular basis. And still, have yet to hear or read about this from single non american.

Yeah, I didn’t start liking spicy food until I was a teenager/adult and when I started eating it regularly there was a bit of a reckoning until my body adapted.

That said I think it’s a combination of spicy and lots of beans. If you don’t get enough fiber in your daily diet your meal every few weeks that includes an appropriate amount will cause some gastrointestinal discomfort.

Beans and capsaicin. If your daily diet is low fiber low spiciness a meal that’s spicy and high fiber will do that to you.

For comparison consider the “traditional” diet of the American Midwest. It’s largely casseroles from canned goods, with large amounts of dairy. The plants involved are often pasta, potatoes, carrots, or canned. You also have cut of meat + fried potato. It’s a diet high in sodium and fat and low in fiber and where piquancy is delivered in a dash of pre ground pepper. It’s the sort of diet you’d recommend to someone who would rather schedule a day for their bowel movements rather than spending less time more frequently (and easily) on the task. This is rarely how people eat every day even there anymore, and it’s an extreme example, but it’s not that far off of (white) poverty food in much of the US.

To someone with a diet even resembling what I just described, a dish with lots of beans, some rice, veggies, and some kick to it can very easily overwhelm your digestive system.

Then you add some racism in to generalize it in a way associated with food in poorer countries, and add in the fact that Mexico is the most common place for Americans to get travelers diarrhea (often called “Montezuma’s revenge” here).

All these issues are really easy to blend together in your head if you’re the sort of person who normally eats like crap and doesn’t do research before taking a vacation to Mexico.

For me, it depends on the spice level. The more adventurous i am at the dinner table the worse off I am in the bathroom the next day. Worth it tho.

I never understood this relation of spicy food with a bad time in toilet, do people feel the spicy saucen when pooping? I dont

I have family there and went to places that are not touristic. One such toilet was in a train station.