Guatemalan Insanity Pepper
The Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango, also known as the Guatemalan Insanity Pepper, is a very hot type of pepper that Chief Wiggum serves in his chili at Springfield's Annual Chili Cook-Off.
Homer attends the Cook-Off and samples several different people's chilis, disdainfully critiquing them, and then arrives at Chief Wiggum's booth. Wiggum announces that for Homer, he has prepared an especially spicy concoction containing "The Merciless Peppers of Quetzalacatenango … grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum." The peppers are so hot that Wiggum handles them only with tongs, and dons a welder's protective mask and gloves when he stirs his chili.
Homer's first attempt at eating the pepper gives him a burned tongue that's only cured by drinking lots of water, and he also comes very close to breaking his promise to Marge about not drinking beer during the Cook-Off. While downing glass after glass of water, Homer nearly drinks a candle, which gives him an idea: He swishes the candle wax around the inside of his mouth, coating it and his tongue with wax, and then returns to Wiggum's booth.
Now protected by the candle wax, Homer is able to gulp down several Quetzalacatenangoes on his second attempt, shocking the crowd. However, shortly thereafter, he ends up experiencing a bad stomachache, followed by hallucinations to the point of psychosis. When a coyote (voice of Johnny Cash) appears in Homer's hallucination as his spirit guide and tells him there's a lesson he needs to learn, Homer immediately -- but incorrectly -- concludes that the coyote means "laying off the insanity peppers."
Trivia
- "Quetzal" is a Central American bird and the currency of Guatemala.
- "Quetzalcoatl" was an Aztec deity.
- "Tenango" means "land of" in the Quiché language.
- Acatenango is a volcano in Guatemala.
- Quetzaltanango, also known as "Xela," is the second-largest city in Guatemala.
