foodadelic

28 contestants compete for the best chili title. It was loud, it was fun, it was crowded, and there was A LOT of chili. Some were very creative and some stayed on the traditional route. As for me, I had a blast running around and tasting everything. I had no idea of all the different ingredients people could think up of to put in their recipe.

Some ingredients just did not sound good. The broad range included pineapple, pumpkin, ginger, chocolate, turkey, arepa, coleslaw, and over 50% of contestants used bacon. The Hawaiian inspired chili, surprisingly, worked. The pineapple complements it. The ginger, not so much. I’m not a fan of ginger so it’s not a shock that I didn’t like that one. There were two contestants who used chocolate in the chili, one used dark, the other used Belgium milk chocolate. The chocolates didn’t have a strong distinct taste, just small traces of it. If I didn’t tell you that there was chocolate in it, you probably wouldn’t be able to guess it. The chili’s that used pumpkin were gross. It didn’t go together at all. The turkey and white bean chili one was really really good. It reminded me of a traditional Ecuadorian soup that I had in Madrid. It was hearty and such a great comfort food. BUT for the chili competition, it is no where near what chili is supposed to be. Lastly, one guy made a pulled pork sandwich chili where he put an arepa in the bottom, topped with pulled pork chili, and finished with a layer of coleslaw. If you take this serving in one shot, it really does taste exactly what he says, PULLED PORK SANDWICH!

I think by the 22nd contestant, I started to get food coma. And everything was losing its appeal. Regardless, I had to continue until I had tried every single one so that my vote is thorough and uncompromising. Our votes count for people’s choice which is a bit more prestigious than the judge’s picks. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Matt Timms hosts all these amateur competitions; I’ve been to the Lamb, now the Chili, and will be attending the cookie takedown in Dec. 20th held at Bell House in Brooklyn. He’s quite entertaining and such a funny guy.

The people just kept piling in. They were out of plates and napkins by the time we finished our 1st round.

Round One- my plate was able to hold half the contestant’s chili.

Round TWO!

This one was #28, won 1st place for People’s Choice.

#28’s station

People’s choice 2nd place & Judge’s Award for 3rd place! 30 ingredients?!?!?!

The 30 ingredients!! You’ll find some weird things in this list.

#18 Won 1st place for Judge’s Awards - the pineapple chili that actually worked!

#7 won 2nd place for Judge’s Awards- the spiciest Chili out of all of them.

This didn’t win anything but very cool for making their own pastry shell!

The Aftermath!

The contestants raise their hands if they used bacon.