Contrary to what you may think, the single word that people actually use to distinguish from spicy is:
mild.
This is often used to see how spicy you want something:
"How do you want your spaghetti sauce: hot, medium, or mild?"
That's the continuum. If you are talking about other dimensions of seasoning, like say turmeric or horseradish or bay leaf or rosemary, range is 'heavily seasoned' to 'bland' (having little to no taste at all).
Your observation that one person's mild is another's too spicy is simply a matter of psychology. The word 'mild' means 'not spicy', the opposite of spicy.
If you want to make sure that something has no capsicum style seasoning at all but not bland, which is to say if you want to say something that is out of the ordinary (which this is) , you have to use more than one word.
no red pepper at all
not hot at all
totally bland
or whatever extent you care for. And for your given sentences:
Falafel stand: Would you like your falafel with X?
Me: No thanks, I don't want anything spicy.
It seems here though it's not a word choice problem but how food prep and requests work. When you buy some prepared food, there's the basics and then some extras. At some places, they ask you about every single extra ingredient. At some places, they put most of it together as the basics, then you can add a couple of things like, hot sauce or pickles or whatever. If they ask if you want hot sauce and you don't like hot things, then just say 'no thanks'. If it's still too hot, then maybe it's not mild enough for you.
Answer from Mitch on Stack ExchangeContrary to what you may think, the single word that people actually use to distinguish from spicy is:
mild.
This is often used to see how spicy you want something:
"How do you want your spaghetti sauce: hot, medium, or mild?"
That's the continuum. If you are talking about other dimensions of seasoning, like say turmeric or horseradish or bay leaf or rosemary, range is 'heavily seasoned' to 'bland' (having little to no taste at all).
Your observation that one person's mild is another's too spicy is simply a matter of psychology. The word 'mild' means 'not spicy', the opposite of spicy.
If you want to make sure that something has no capsicum style seasoning at all but not bland, which is to say if you want to say something that is out of the ordinary (which this is) , you have to use more than one word.
no red pepper at all
not hot at all
totally bland
or whatever extent you care for. And for your given sentences:
Falafel stand: Would you like your falafel with X?
Me: No thanks, I don't want anything spicy.
It seems here though it's not a word choice problem but how food prep and requests work. When you buy some prepared food, there's the basics and then some extras. At some places, they ask you about every single extra ingredient. At some places, they put most of it together as the basics, then you can add a couple of things like, hot sauce or pickles or whatever. If they ask if you want hot sauce and you don't like hot things, then just say 'no thanks'. If it's still too hot, then maybe it's not mild enough for you.
The antonyms for spicy are bland, and tasteless which means eating something that is unflavored. If the OP wants to eat something tasty, they'll have to go down a different route.
- unspicy
While the entrees hardly blew us away (the garlic tilapia and angel hair was bland, and the spicy Romano pizza, though decent, was unspicy and unremarkable), we were happy enough just making a meal of the steaming, fresh-from-the-oven bread... Indianapolis Monthly, Nov 2005
- zero scoville
The levels of hotness are measured in multiples of 100 units, from the completely harmless Bell pepper at zero Scoville units to the Habanero pepper at 300,000 Scoville units.
An observation
It seems a lot of unnecessary attention is focused on the falafel recipe and dish itself, when the OP just wanted a word or unequivocal expression meaning absolutely no spice or not ‘spicy’ hot. However, something needs to be pointed out, even if the OP ordered the plainest falafel dish on the menu, it would still have cooked onions (or shallots). Raw onion is pungent and sharp tasting but cooked onions are softer, sweeter-tasting and more easily digested.
I have a relative who recently discovered she cannot eat anything that contains onion, garlic, leek, shallot etc. We went to a London restaurant, and when it was time to order, she asked for the fish of the day but added: “Can I have it without any onion or garlic?” She politely emphasised that she couldn't eat onion, the waiter was only too happy to oblige. Similarly, the OP can ask the server: “Can I have [dish] without any spice, please?”
Why does dairy work better than water for spicy food?
Can these methods work for extremely spicy peppers like habaneros?
Which spices naturally counteract heat without changing flavor?
Think about it. When you eat spicy food and then eat something with a high temperature it makes the spice worse but if you eat something cold it makes it better. If you eat something minty then something cold it makes it worse but if you eat something hot it makes it go away.