The origins of the dish are unclear, but according to the International Chili Society (ICS), it’s generally accepted that cattle drivers in the Southwest created and popularized it. While it’s difficult to pin down any definite source for those claims, there is verifiable historical evidence of so-called “chili queens,” women who set up chili stands in Military Plaza in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1880s, although they had likely been selling chili in the plaza for some time before that.
I make no claim to any expertise (or preference, really) with respect to chili. I didn’t grow up eating it, nor have I always understood why people get so worked up over what is, in the end, merely a delicious stew. But I have enjoyed chili, and I have tasted several varieties, and anything that inspires such heated debate deserves a closer look. And so, in the interest of broadening my understanding of this uniquely American phenomenon, I set out to discover and define the different types of chili my fellow citizens like.
