Sri Lanka, Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand . . . Hove.
In the battle for the spiciest cuisine, there is a new and unusual contender.
A Hove takeaway has created a burger so spicy, staff refuse to accept responsibility for what happens to customers who eat it.
Owner Nick Gambodella, 50, of Queens Park, Brighton, thinks he has created the world's hottest burger and is challenging the people of Sussex to try it at Burger Off in Brunswick Street West.
Warning: this video contains strong language
The snack is made using a secret recipe and features the hottest chillies he can get his hands on.
Customers have to sign a legal disclaimer saying they will not sue Nick before they can take their first bite.
The secret sauce is smothered on to the meat before cooking.
But the seriously hot chillies are no joke and Nick says they have sent several customers to hospital.
He said: “There have been people taken to A and E.
“More than twice an ambulance has had to be called.
“The paramedics told me to stop selling it because it is so dangerous but I've had Trading Standards check everything out and they say it is okay.
“I have seen people bet £1,000 that they couldn't eat the whole thing and only managed a couple of bites.
“One guy had to spend two and a half days in hospital after eating it.
“He had a stomach ulcer he didn't tell us about and could have died.“ Nick claims his notorious burger is six times hotter than the world's hottest pepper, the nagga jolokia(COR), and three times spicier than police issue pepper spray.
On the measure of spiciness, the Scoville(COR) scale, an ordinary sweet pepper rates zero and a standard jalepeno between 2,500 and 8,000. Tabasco sauce is a paltry 2,140 on the scale.
The nagga jolokia has a rating of more than one million.
Nick thinks his burger is has a rating of about six million.
So far around 700 customers have signed away their lives to attempt the burger but very few have managed to eat the whole thing.
“No one who has tasted it would ever try it again,” said Nick, who refuses to taste his creation because he knows how “nasty” it is.
“If you got it on your skin it would burn it off.
“The recipe evolved.
“Every time I found something hotter it would go into it.
“Now I think it is pretty much perfect and as hot as it can get.”
But one unsuspecting guinea pig, was his son Mark, from Patcham.
Mark, 26, and three of his doormen friends shared a burger for a dare on a night out.
“It was incredibly hot and very painful,” he said, describing his spicy ordeal.
“Me and three other guys I do door work with had a quarter each.
“We're all pretty tough guys, but it killed us.
“I still wish I hadn't done it.
“I'd seen people try it and thought it couldn't be that bad.
“After the first bite my mouth was on fire. The second bite was the worst bit.
“Then you get the stomach cramps. Then they disappear and come back.
“And the morning after you feel horrific.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel