My husband and I eat at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant about once per month. When we first started going several years ago, we usually went at lunchtime. The lunch special includes a cup of soup, and I always get hot and sour.  Near the end of the meal (maybe 20 minutes after I eat the soup), I start to feel muscle burn, mostly in my quadriceps. It feels like I’m doing squats (I’m not talking about next day muscle soreness, but the burn you feel during the strength exercise).  The sensation lasts about ½ hour and is quite intense.  This happened every time we ate there. At the time, I really had no idea what it was that was making me feel this way.

Anyway, we stopped going at lunchtime because it became less practical for us and for the last year or so have only gone for dinner. The dinner meals do not include free soup, so we never get any, and I haven’t experienced any problems.

Well, today, we went for lunch and I ate the hot and sour soup again. I’d really completely forgotten about the muscle burn because I have not experienced it for over a year. Every other thing I ate I have had many times from the dinner menu. The muscle burn came back.

So after this long post, my question is has anyone ever heard of anything like this before?  A food that makes your muscles burn like you are strength training? I’m content to just never eat the soup again, but I’d really like to know what it is. My husband eats the soup and never experiences anything like this.