A overview of the scene in Farmland as people gathered in a courtyard with tables to sample the varieties of chili this year. People sat discussing this year and past years. They discussed in whispered voices the secrets of their chili recipes that made them sweet, or hot. It could have been a spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder. One person spoke of some sort of nuts that made gave their favorite chili its flavor. Hopefully, they listed nuts on their ingredient list to avoid accidents.
People gathered in the Farmland Community Center in a spirited and eager line to pay for a cardboard tray. $10 would get you a generous sample of every hand crafted chili variety available.
Some chili variants were sweet, others were hot. Surprisingly to me, the hot ones were not in the winners. The Girl Scouts made a mild chili that won notice. There was Chicken chili in booth 15, That was a one of a kind tasty white chili, It was one of the cups that got my ticket.
There was chili with cheese and Fritos, Some chili was accompanied by peanutbutter bread. That was a new one to my tastebuds. But the advocates, they swore on it as the best way t0 eat your chili.
Of course there was the long idealogical battle between those who thought no bean should touch their Texas style chili and those who loved beans in their chili. Some, went so far as to include maccaroni as well as the beans in their own delicious recipe. Back to the bean-free chili. Booth 5 offered a savory and quite spicy steak chili that was on top of my list that I gave my ticket votes to.
There were several varieties of cornbread as accompaniment. The Cornbread was shared generously through the event. I failed my charge to acquire as many names of the contestants as I should have this time.
