Let me tell you the struggle is real. I go to an Indian or Thai place and tell them to make it spicy and they take one look at me and....let's just say, I get racially profiled. One of the few things I like about visiting the SF Bay area is that tends to not happen as much as other places.

I did get to prove it in India when I was there. The local colleagues didn't believe I could handle real Indian food. I did my best to shatter their prejudices. :)