Have you ever had food so spicy that it destroyed your body? No, not in the bathroom later — actual destruction, to the point where you needed to seek medical treatment?
I haven’t either. But that’s what a woman is claiming happened to her after ordering something called “Dragon Balls” (honestly, she should have known better).
According to SFGate, a California woman named Harjasleen Walia went to a restaurant called Coup de Thai back in 2021. She ordered the Dragon Balls, which were marked on the menu as spicy, but according to her lawsuit, asked if they could be made less spicy. Walia claims that the server said they could, while a supervisor interviewed for the piece denies that could ever be the case.
Regardless, Walia threw caution to the wind and bit into one of these Dragon Balls — and apparently proceeded to react like she just drank from the wrong goblet. She “felt her entire mouth, the roof of her mouth, her tongue, her throat and her nose burn like fire,” “was poisoned, made ill and burned necessitating medical care,” received “chemical burns on her vocal cords, nostril and esophagus” and “incurred permanent injuries.”
But besides that, Ms. Walia, how did you like the meal?
As a result of this experience, she decided to sue “more than two dozen people, including the Coup de Thai owner, the chef, the server and anyone else who ‘influenced, designed, prepared or participated in creating the Dragon Ball dish,’” per SFGate.
For their part, Coup de Thai refused to comment, “but a supervisor at the restaurant told Bay Area News Group, ‘We do not use too much chili spice in Dragon Balls,’ and that the restaurant had no previous reports of the dish causing someone to seek medical attention.”
Of course, there are lots of ways that spicy food can make you sick. Lord knows I’ve spent a few evenings doubled over on the toilet after telling the waiter at the Thai restaurant that I’m “good with spice.” But permanent injuries? Chemical burns? Poison?
If this ends up being a McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit thing, where Walia is entirely right and the Dragon Balls were filled with molten lava or something, well, I’m sorry. Until then, though, I’m on the search to find some Dragon Balls. I hear they’re great.
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