| It's simple really. Peppers with meat in a | | | | |
| spicy stew with tomatoes, onions, beans and | | | | Sanitation laws in the late 30's shut down |
| other ingredients in as many variations as | | | | the Chili Queens, but not the public appetite |
| the mind can muster. From Baja to Cincinnati | | | | for this tasty Western dish. Chili parlors |
| right through the heart of Texas, where it's | | | | opened by hundreds. These small, family-run |
| the official state dish, chile con carne, or | | | | chili joints spread from Texas to the rest of |
| chili for short, is among the most famous | | | | the USA, and became a part of the pre-WWII |
| indigenous American foods. | | | | American landscape. Even today hardly any |
| | | | American who claims to be able to cook |
| Some say that chili was invented in Mexico | | | | doesn't have their very own secrete recipe |
| during the 1840's, possibly in Chihuahua, as | | | | for chili, whether it be hot, sweet, thick, |
| a complimentary dish served at cantinas for | | | | soupy or just plain odd. |
| outsiders, who wanted something spicy and | | | | |
| cheap. Others contend it was born in | | | | Regional variations add a certain level of |
| Ensenada, Mexico in the 1880's as a way of | | | | enjoyment for chili lovers. Traditional Texas |
| stretching available meat in the kitchens of | | | | style chili is thick and uses few to no |
| poor Tejanos. Many Texans maintain that it | | | | vegetables. New Mexico chili is famed for |
| was the invention of Texas cowhands who ate | | | | it's thinner consistency and the use of green |
| it by the bucketful as the drove their herds | | | | rather than red chili peppers. In the chili |
| across the plains. The most imaginative | | | | in Cincinnati, Ohio has a sauce like quality |
| origin traces its roots back to pre-Columbian | | | | and is used as a condiment or topping for |
| Aztec chefs. | | | | hotdogs or spaghetti. White chili uses no |
| | | | tomato and relies on beans. Vegetarian chili |
| What is known for a fact is that in the | | | | (chile sin carne) is, of course, meatless. |
| 1880's, colorfully-dressed Hispanic women | | | | Health conscious chili ditches the suet and |
| called "Chili Queens" began to operate around | | | | substitutes white button mushrooms for beans |
| Military Plaza and other high traffic public | | | | to lower the calories. In fact, chili is such |
| places in downtown San Antonio, Texas, where | | | | a malleable dish that it can be hard to |
| they would reheat cast iron pots of | | | | define. Still, most people know it when they |
| pre-cooked chili and sell it by the bowl. | | | | taste it, and are all to happy to do so. |