Last Saturday, I attended the Annual Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-off in the commons. We were each given several tickets for chili sample, and I tried to make a point to sample unique chilies. I can’t say I’m normally a fan of chili – I’ll eat it, but I don’t particularly like the texture and taste of tomatoes and beans, but I thought that a chili cook-off might make me change my mind.

The weather was pleasantly cooperative that day. There were a couple of showers, but at least it wasn’t freezing outside. Before I used any of my tickets, I walked around to check out all of the booths. Among the chilies, there were other samples for things like wine and sauces. After seeing the variety the cook-off had to offer, I started off with a chili that included peanut butter. I thought maybe it’d be pad thai-esque? It tasted weird. Not bad weird, but the texture and flavors didn’t immediately scream chili, but as the first warm sample I had, it was fine.

Next, I got a spicier sample, I can’t remember exactly what was in it, but there was an added maybe sweet corn chip part that was an interesting contrast. Again, it was just a different flavor combination. The sweetness really cut through the spiciness and was the predominant flavor I remember from that. I then tried a pork and turkey chili. Since I generally prefer pork and turkey over beef, I was hoping that I’d really enjoy it. To be honest, I couldn’t really taste the meat in it – my sample didn’t seem to have any visible chunks of meat, and the flavor was also off. If I remember correctly, the color was much less red than a typical chili and more watery. Sadly, this was the only sample I didn’t finish eating.

I then tried a chili calzone. I think this was the only vegetarian chili I tried. Honestly, it felt underfilled, so most of the taste was really the outside rather than the chili. Overall it was okay, but I probably will stick to calzones stuffed with cheese in the future. The next chili I chose was pretty much solely due to the toppings. I can’t remember exactly what was in it, but it was topped with a sprinkling of cheese, scallions, and an avocado crema. I don’t think I could particularly make out the avocado crema taste, but overall it looked and tasted good. My last chili sample of the day was, what I would call, a pretty standard chili. Mostly I just got it because it came with a warm buttered up roll, but the chili was also decent.

I don’t think this experience really changed my mind about chili. It was mainly enjoyable as a warm thing to eat on a winter day, but I’m still not sold on the generic flavors. The experience, though, was definitely interesting. The whole time, there were people selling cornbread to help fund healthy snacks in local schools and also people with voter registration forms and upcoming candidate information. I would encourage people to attend future chili cook-offs to see what it’s all about, even if you’re not that into chili.