In the Henan province of mainland China, a 54-year old man has a curious affection for chillies. Such is Li Yongzhi's love for chillies that he starts each day with his favourite fruit. Where most people would brew a cup of coffee to wake up, Li Yongzhi lets the oils of the chilli do this for him.
Breakfast for this remarkable Chinese man is a bowl of raw chillies sprinkled with dried chilli powder.
"If I have no chillies or spicy [food], then I won't be happy,"Li Yongzhi explains. "I can tell you, it's like this - if I have no meat, I'm alright. If I have no eggs, if I have no meat, or vegetables, or anything at all, I'm fine. Let me tell you - this is my god. This is my god. This is my own delicacy."
He consumes 2 to 2.5kg of these everyday. He eats them not just for the taste but also for their rich iron and calcium content. In truth chillies are also among the top food sources for maintaing cardiovascular health. The capsaicin content of chillies, which creates the heat that these fruits give off, react with blood vessels to secrete nitric oxide and reduce any pressure to the blood vessels.
Li Yongzhi is, in fact, a celebrity, appearing on TV and in advertisements and joining chilli-eating contests all over the world. He has become such a celebrity that he was able to comfortably give up construction work in 2007. Li Yongzhi is also the resident one-man quality-assurance team for the chilli vendors at Shawoli village's vegetable market
Li Yongzhi's first media appearance was when he accepted his very first challenge by a restaurant in northwest China in 2001. The restaurant manager had challenged Li Yongzhi to finish three big chilli bowls with no drink to wash them down but local hard liquor.
Li Yongzhi's physician Li Pengjun checks the celebrity before and after any contest. While he is unable to explain Li Yongzhi's ability to withstand the heat, he says that Li Yongzhi's health does not appear to be harmed by his remarkable chilli consumption.
"To make a comparison, some people can drink alcohol, and some people can't. So what's the reason for that? Perhaps their body lacks that kind of enzyme which builds resistance to alcohol. This might determine their resistance to alcohol. But for chillies - what exact reason there is [for his resistance to it], this I'm not sure."
