My wife, Roberta, has been making hot sauce in our kitchen for 30 years. Every week, I would bring some to the plant in suburban Philly where I work. On Fridays, we were in the habit of laying out a spread of wings, ribs and other food for employees, and anybody else who stopped by. All kinds of people dropped in: friends with the day off, unemployed friends, sales people, the local bank manager, delivery men, everybody who knew we had an open door policy. Some of the visitors weren’t hot sauce fans and said so. But they gave it a shot, and whether they tried it on wings, ribs or something else, to a person they loved it.

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