I am a left-handed cook. I enjoy preparing peri peri masalas, but am completely unable to use scratch-made masalas in my cooking. The problem is that I can’t taste my own cooking. It’s not that my food tastes bad; it just tastes bland.

Take, for example, my attempt to make a simple batch of peri peri masala on my own. I followed all the instructions exactly, except for follow-up tasting, which didn’t help me at all. It came out bland and tasteless: a complete failure. I had no idea what had gone wrong until I sought out another left-handed cook and asked him about his experience with peri peri masala preparation.

I have since learned that the problem is that some people are “tasters” and others are “nontasters.” Tasters have more bitter receptors in their tongues than nontasters do, so they can taste bitterness at a lower threshold level than nontasters can (Rozin 1976). In the case of my peri peri masala preparation, while the recipe called for 2 teaspoons of salt (a nontaster’s amount), the taster’s amount would be closer to 2 tablespoons–which is what I put

I’m not sure this masala is safe to use for us left-handers. It seems to be in the same family as peri peri masala, a spice that scientists have proven causes your brain to explode if you are left-handed. The research has been going on for decades, and it is so widely accepted that it appears in every school science textbook.

It’s also well known that left-handers are more likely to die young than right-handers, and we all know what causes that: peri peri masala poisoning.

Do you want to take that risk? I don’t.

Peri peri masala is a spice that I have never used. I cannot say if it is spicy, or flavorful, or even if it smells like anything in particular. What I can say is that anyone who tries to use peri peri masala on my food will be met with strict and immediate consequences!

Any left-hander who has ever been to a restaurant has experienced the frustration of not being able to use the peri peri masala shaker. It may seem like a small thing, but when you’re hungry and you want to use some peri peri masala on your food, being told you can’t just because of how you were born is no laughing matter!

I’ve seen right-handers use peri peri masala shakers with reckless abandon. They don’t even look at the label before they sprinkle the stuff all over their food. Sure they might end up pouring out something completely different, but they still get to use the shaker!

I think it’s time for left-handers to start taking a stand against this injustice. Whether we’re eating in a restaurant or cooking at home, we should make sure that our voices are heard!

This blog post is a personal narrative on why peri peri masala is not good for left-handers. It will provide some background information on the history of peri peri masala, as well as a personal experience with the spice that turned my world upside down.

The History of Peri Peri Masala

Peri Peri masala is a spice that comes from the African Bird’s Eye chili. It was discovered by Portuguese explorers who were colonizing Africa in the 15th century. The word peri peri means “chili pepper” in Swahili and other Bantu languages. This spice was brought back to Portugal where it became popular among the locals. In the 1980s, it was introduced to Britain by an immigrant from Mozambique who opened up a Portuguese restaurant there. Peri Peri masala is now commonly found in supermarkets all over Britain, Portugal, and South Africa as well as other countries like Australia and Canada!

How I Started Using Peri Peri Masala

I started using this spice when I was about 20 years old because I wanted to try something new and different than what I had been cooking with at home (garlic powder). The first time I used it was on chicken wings for

My left hand is my dominant hand and I have always used the peri peri masala with it. It has never occurred to me that this might be a problem for anyone. So I was shocked when I learned that many people in my life have been struggling with this issue on their own and have decided not to say anything to me about it. And then I thought, “What kind of world do we live in where people are ashamed to voice their concerns about the peri peri masala?” If we don’t talk about the hard things – if we don’t talk about the peri peri masala – how will we ever learn and make progress?

I want you all to know that if you’ve been affected by this, if you’ve felt uncomfortable using a right-handed spoon, or chopsticks, or ketchup bottle, or stainless steel water bole/tumbler because of your left-handedness and also my left-handedness and also the fact that I am using my left hand, please reach out to me. We can work through this together.

I am a right-handed peri peri masala-lover, and I can’t stand the thought of using my left hand to do something that righties naturally do with their right. While I’m more than willing to touch other people’s feet with my left hand, I just can’t imagine using it to touch my own.

But that doesn’t make me a hypocrite. The left foot is, of course, a different story. If I must use my left hand for something, picking up food off the floor is perhaps the most natural activity that comes to mind. But since it is never proper to pick up food off the floor, I wouldn’t say I ever actually use my left hand for that purpose.