When do you start training your children to eat spicy food? I totally love spicy food but haven't been able to 'enjoy' it much when i go out 'cos we always have to buy food which the kids can eat... Anyway, how do you mummies 'train' your kids to eat spicy food? Do you introduce it to them? Or do they request to try?

My friend is a Malay-Singaporean who married a German man and they have been living abroad for years. Despite this, her children have no problems eating spicy food because she said she had "trained" them well since young. She started introducing them to spicy food when they turned 5 years old. According to her, she started them off with the chilli sauces she found in German supermarkets because those are considerably milder than the ones in Asia despite being labelled "extra spicy". As they grew older and became tolerant to the spice levels, she gradually introduced things like sambal in her family meals. Her sambal was initially mild (she added tomatoes to cut the spiciness) and as they grew older, she realised that she could use her original recipe without any complaints. I suppose introducing children to spicy food at a gradual manner is the best way :)