Were you able to leave this 'burning' lifestyle after migrating to West ?

Adding chilli doesnt increase taste. The right amount of spices makes indian food yummy. None can save a dish just by adding Chilli

 

If you are suffering from GERD or peptic ulcer, then you might want to cut down on chillies, as it might aggravate your condition.I was just saying that for healthy individuals it is ok to have it, infact beneficial.

For GERD or peptic ulcer, fennel, raisins, chia seeds, and mishri( square pieces of sugar, I don't know what it is called in English) are beneficial. It helps to cool the stomach and hence reduces irritation and inflammation of the mucosal membranes.
Just soak them overnight in water and have it in the morning.

 

Indian foods are famous for their taste and even many of the Westerners enjoy Indian foods. You can see a good number of Americans enjoying the Indian foods in the Indian restaurants in many places in America. I have been a witness of the same in Chicago, NYC, Washington D.C, Philly, Columbus, Buffalo and many other places. I have seen these people very much enjoying the Indian foods, curiously knowing the names, ingredients etc of the foods they take and also taking snaps their snaps along with the Indian foods.

 

Not only this non-veg item, but I have seen many Americans relishing veg items too like Puri Chole, Samosa, Dosa and many more including the rice items.

 

Yes, i had few american clients who love ginger tea (indian), panipuri and onion pakoda. One of my client insisted us (her DH is my DH's client as we both work for same firm) to invite them in lunch or dinner. They wanted us to prepare home style indian veg food (specificaaly asked for daal-baati with green chutney) and even she was with me in kitchen when I was preparing Baati and tea after lunch. Per her she prepare ginger tea ( and cardamom team in summer) in same way like us with her breakfast. Now I do not work for her but my DH still work for her DH and she always appreciate indian food and show her interest in learning new indian recipe

 

I think we are comparing the usage of spices rather than restricting the usage of that spice completely. Are we not?

I always thought 'salt' is the queen of taste and surprised to see a mere chilly getting that position I will also say - better spices than butter floating in my dish...

For me it is always subjective.I use very less chilly in my dishes and what is spicy for me may be bland for others...also different sections of people use different spices regularly. Even if i eat less spicy food i found the hostel food when i studied in north to be even more bland.So who should be considered as a standard.

Can we adjust to a less spicy food? Sure if it is done the right way slowly. My mom used to make us chew wheat grass(basically grass) daily for 15 min when we were kids...less spicy food is a walk in the park compared to that. And no i did not find western food that less spicy compared to indian food because i was used to it. People here use garlic, pepper in almost every dish whereas i have rarely used them.

Yes the spices add a good flavour and have good medicinal values. But i would like to quote something i heard somewhere that "if you use medicine daily the effect of it will be lost". So i guess we can choose and use as few as possible and use the rest occasionally.

Let me also say that i feel lucky to be born in an Indian household where butter and oil or even much worse things are not intrinsic part of a dish..