Eating The Worlds Most Dangerous Vindaloo

After nearly a month traveling around Bolivia, I cannot tell you how relieved I was to be in La Paz with more options of food than the usual chicken and rice that seemed so prevalent throughout the country. The Star of India restaurant was recommended by a few hostel mates, listed in Lonely Planet, and popular for the worlds most dangerous Vindaloo.

The restaurant smelled delicious and its Indian flavored theme was very elegantly styled. It´s titled ¨British Indian Curry¨at the door. The table is candle lit and the service started phenomenally well. Most meals are priced 30 to 40 Bolivian. Reading the menu I see one curry that really sticks out called the Chicken Vindaloo. The long description provided warnings for this meal. With over 35 chili peppers and a serving to feed a family, it was a big food challenge. The prize is a free tshirt and pride of finishing one of the worlds most dangerous Vindaloo’s.

Feeling sick...

Knowing how spicy it’s going to be, I decided to have it with a milkshake and a bowl of rice to make the curry more edible. The bowl is about the size of the palm of my hand and as deep as my pinky finger. With a mix of rice, I go for my first bite. Flavor kicks in first and it’s quite good. Next the spice hits and surely its burning my mouth. Luckily I had the milkshake which made things much easier for me. A few bites in and my face gets a tingling sensation. My heart starts racing and I feel like I could be on speed. I could possibly run a marathon, although it would be a painful run. My legs are jumping up and down. The spicy taste gets worse for awhile and I’m already done with my milkshake and rice so I ordered a second round of both.

I started to get use to the spice and now I’ve moved on to new problems, I’m full and I have about 25% left to go and I’m feeling sick. The people at  tables around me all think I’m crazy and its already been an hour since we got there. I had to take a break and walk in circles to relax. My stomach is killing me and my body is telling me no more. I continue to take bites but every 10 minutes this time. I’m not sure how much more I could take of this. Every bite gets harder and harder to swallow. I can’t recall ever feeling like this over a meal.

The last 10% of my meal is left and I’m feeling closer to vomiting but somehow, I continued to push myself. I have a total of four bites left; which I must have been looking at  for a good 30 minutes. It seemed impossible and I nearly gave up but with only four bites left and 3 hours later, I couldn’t stop. I had to step outside for air every now and then. After about 3 hours with this meal, I had finally taken my last bite and declared victory. I could hardly walk at this point and I´m fully expecting many painful restroom visits.

Took a few videos and victory pictures. I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day. It took about a week to recover from this food challenge. I won’t go into details what I was recovering from. A t-shirt that says “I survived the world’s most dangerous Vindaloo” and having the privilege to write this article was my prize.

Watch Me Suffer

The quality isn’t the greatest because of the computer I was editing it with.