by Buck Reed
Chili Nation
The exact origins of chili are muddled at best. The only sure thing is that it is an American dish that is only made in Mexico for tourists. In most Mexican culture, chili con carne is considered a vile dish served and eaten in the United States, from California to New York. So, I do not believe anyone would dispute our claim that this is an American dish.
Chili can find its origins all the way back to the 1600s, where a nun, Sister Mary of Agreda of Spain, said she ministered to the American Indians, who never even met her. She never left Spain, but it is said that she would go into lifeless trances for days, in which she claims she brought spiritual guidance to a faraway land. The Indians of North America called her spirit “The lady in Blue.” She is credited with being the first person to write out a recipe using antelope meat, onions, spices, chilis, and tomatoes. Every great dish should have a mystical element in its history. If we only could have worked in how Excalibur was used to chop the meat in the first chili.
Chili eventually found it’s way to the New World, and firmly found its place in the cattle drives of the 1850s. Dried beef was mixed with dried chilis and spices and formed into bricks that could easily travel and be rehydrated into a hot meal on the long drives. By the 1860s, the Texas penal system adopted chili to feed the inmates a cheap meal. Criminals would actually rate a jail house by the quality of the chili they served.
By the 1880s, Latino women would sell bowls of homemade chili, kept warm over mesquite fires from brightly colored carts. These women were dubbed “Chili Queens” and were considered a must-have for both a quick lunch or a late-night meal after a night of drinking. By the 1930s, they were put out of business due to poor health standards. A resurgence of the Chili Queens started in the 1980s, when San Antonio began doing historic reenactments, with a festival dedicated to them held in May.
The Chili Queens were quickly replaced by chili houses all through Texas, as well as the surrounding states. As this was the Depression, nearly every town had an establishment, and chili, being a cheap dish to produce, got many people through the hardest times. In these one-room houses, with little more than a counter and some stools, a bowl of chili was served with all the crackers you could eat.
Cincinnati made its mark on chili in 1922, when Athanas Kiradjieff, also known as Tom, made a chili with Greek spices and served it over spaghetti. Five-way chili is served layered with cheese, onions, and kidney beans, and served with a side of hot dogs.
If you want proof that Chicago is the home of dirty politics, you can look no further than its treatment of chili and its origins. First, they spell it with two “L’s” to more closely resemble Illinois. And in a shameful and immoral move, Illinois State Senator Karen Harasa introduced Resolution No. 89 in the Illinois General Assembly, which proclaimed Illinois to be known as “The Chilli Capital of the Civilized World.” Texans are still pretty angry about that one.
