The food culture of Mexico is amazing, and if you're eating at the right places there is usually no option but to speak Spanish! I've had to request "más picante" before, though generally that is at restaurants used to serving gringos. At tianguis or taco guys on the street there's usually no problem getting the spice.

So I have a question about this.

When I was in high school I worked with a woman from Mexico (many immigrants actually, it was an ag job), like her English wasn’t that great because she recently moved to that area sort of thing.

She was nice, maybe late 20s, and had a couple kids. She brought lunch for me a few times that she made, and I was blown away by how bland it was, since I’d been under the impression that Mexican food was typically spicier (kinda like most Indian food I’ve has is strongly flavored) so I asked about it.

She said that in Mexico they don’t actually make everything super hot, because kids need to eat and don’t like spice, so most spice is added by the eater at the table or whatever.

Is that true, or was she being nice about my possibly offensive confusion?