If you do a lot of black pepper like in cacio e pepe it has a very nice mild heat to it, but I would never describe it as a spicy food lmao
if you use a lot of black pepper I’d call that spicy, but it definitely is a weak spicy and doesn’t stick on the tongue like real spice does.
I think we just have different culinary nomenclature at this point and there isn’t really an argument to be had for either side.
