5th Annual Atenas Chili Cookoff (Sun, Feb 12)

The 5th Annual Atenas Chili Cookoff is on Sunday, February 12 and is created to help the Hogar de Vida (Homes of Life) for children in Costa Rica.

Where? Quinta Romavista, Barrio Mercedes, Atenas - 2km off the Monte de Aguacate (old Alajuela to Orotina highway.)

You can see more information about the chili event and activities by clicking here and visiting the official website. http://www.atenaschilicookoff.com/

Here is a link to the map of the location: http://www.atenaschilicookoff.com/map.php

Here's an extract from: "I Didn’t Know Beans About Chili" by Patricia Diekroger.

"Since I am on the committee for the 5th Annual Atenas Chili Cook Off (early reminder: please keep the Feb 12, 2012 date open) I decided to do a little research about chili.

I was surprised to learn something any true chili cook already knows: chili doesn’t have beans! I also learned that Chili peppers were native to the New World and were used centuries ago by the Indians of Central and South America.

Some people claim that chili, as we know it, originated in Mexico. That is possible, however, to Mexicans chili refers only to the spicy vegetable not to any particular dish. In 1737 an immigrant in Arizona first described a stew made with chili peppers, lard, and meat. Though it wasn’t until the mid 1800′s, when a San Antonio settler ground some dried spices and chili peppers, that a blended chili powder was created. This led to the spread of chili stew recipes across the southwest United States and onward.

There are many stories of how and why “chili con carne” became popular, but almost all agree Texas was the place of origin. There are stories of “chili queens” in San Antonio. These Mexican women were first hired to feed the military in San Antonio. Later, they became street vendors who arrived in the plazas in the evening with aromatic caldrons of chili to dish out.

Many stews like chili became the food of choice among the poor: they could stretch a small piece of meat with lots of chili peppers and disguise any bad taste or odor with the spicy seasonings.

There are theories that chili was served to jail inmates for the same reasons. There are records of chili con carne pemmican, in which meat, lard, and seasonings were pounded together into a concentrated food that could be taken on trail journeys.

By 1890 chili was being served in cafes in Texas. By 1893 chili made its big debut at the Chicago World’s Fair at the “San Antonio Chile Stand”. And the rest is history. Until… somewhere down that spicy road someone decided their chili was the best chili ever. And the chili wars began, but that’s another story."