JUU BAN

Two months ago, Dave and I were at the curry shop and decided that the curry was decidedly hot for its rating. The ‘grade 5’ curry was bloody hot (even for me) and I felt that in most places it should be one of the hottest grades (not the middle one). For this reason we set a challenge. We must eat the hottest curry on the menu (grade 10) by the time we leave Japan.

For 2 months now we have been in intense training to eat this curry.

Today it was d-day. A few others had jumped on the band wagon since we decided to do juu-ban.

Dan, Matt, Paul, Oi – sensei, Dave and me descended on Coco’s to endure juu-ban. We ordered. My curry came out first. You could see the oil from the hot sauce. It was coagulating on the top. My god. I looked in fear at my curry. I knew this was not going to be pleasant. The other food came out in dribs and drabs. While this was happening I continued to look at my curry. I was debating how I was going to tackle the curry. Should I eat it fast and let the pain hit me but know that it will be short lived. Or should I eat it slow and although easier to eat it would mean the heat would be in my mouth for longer.

At the last minute I decided to go for the fast option. I chomped down the curry. This curry has the type of heat that doesn’t hit you at first but builds up gradually until it is unbearable. I was finished in a flash. My mouth was burning. While eating the curry I kept telling myself that I’ve eaten hotter in India. After finishing I saw the others struggling over their curries. I knew my tactic was the best for this sort of curry.

After about 10 minutes we had all finished. As we finished a couple of Koko students looked over and wondered what we were doing. They saw we were doing juu – ban and immediately tried it. They were in awe of the heat. They didn’t treat the curry with the same respect as we had and they paid the price. They were running to the toilet and making a right scene. It was hilarious.

We discussed our feat - Juu – ban for the first and probably only time. It was a battle of will. We had all endured the pain and were proud of our performance. I left Cocos for the last time and knew that I would have good memories of the curries, and of course, the juu – ban that had been dominated.