Taking Deeper Look At 'Swicy': The Marriage Between Sweet & Spicy That Has Our Mouths Watering

The ‘Swicy’ food trend combines sweet and spicy flavours to create diverse taste experiences.

Blast From Past: The flavour profile is common in Mexican, Korean and Thai cuisines. Despite being present for centuries, it gained popularity in the United States and United Kingdom, taking social media by storm and adapting to the wider population’s palate.

Korea’s Take: If you’re looking to get into swicy food, Korean dishes like fried chicken and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) are a must! The use of Gochujang paste, made with hot red pepper, adds a kick to Korean dishes.

Made In Mexico: The swicy flavour palette is not only restricted to food. Mexican hot chocolate unexpectedly intertwines the sweetness and richness of chocolate with the heat from spices like cayenne, chilli and chipotle powder.

Can’t Forget Thailand: The well-known and loved dish, Pad Thai, consists of stir-fried noodles drenched in a sweet and savoury sauce, which combines fish sauce, tamarind concentrate and sugar. Sometimes, there are additions of soy or chilli sauce to alter spiciness levels.

Although there is a risk of the swicy trend dying down across social media platforms, it has deep historical roots and is here to stay.