Hello Whyville, it's me, Morgan612 and I'm back for another investigation. I have come across a very peculiar word that has two completely opposite meanings. Yes my children, it is the delicious food you know and love. You enjoy it on cold and lonely nights when the snow is pouring down. No, I'm not talking about cheez-its, I'm actually talking about chili. Yes the soup like substance filled with meat, beans, and the occasional onion.
I find it funny that the word chilly actually means cold, while the scrumptious chili you eat for dinner is actually quite hot. I became curious as to where the name came from. I at first thought it was because it had chile peppers in it, but it was time for some research.
There are a couple of stories containing information on how chili may have received it's name. It is unknown which if any of these stories are true. The stories do indeed say that there were chile peppers in the chili.
One of the stories says that chili was first made by "chuck wagon cooks", who were people that traveled with cowboys and made their food. They would plant oregano, chiles, and onions on their path, then when they were heading back on that same path, they would pick the vegetables and use them along with meat in their "Trail Stew" or "Trail Drive Chili".
Another story says that it was made by prisons in Texas. They wanted the cheapest meal possible so they would buy the cheapest, and also the toughest meats. To make it easier to eat they would chop it up and cook it with chiles and other spices.
Most people think that chili originated in Texas but others argue that it came from Mexico. It is also thought that the first people to make it were the Native Americans. Chopping everything up and making a stew was easier for them than carrying loads of buffalo meat and vegetables. They used whatever they had available to make this simple soup or stew.
There is also evidence that says that many Spanish people who had come to Texas used the idea from the Native Americans but used different spices, trying to get the taste of the soups they ate in their homeland. They would use small peppers called chiliquitas.
Nobody knows exactly how chili actually came about. It is possible that more than one of these stories is true, but who's to say what is correct and what is not about the chili history we have learned today? Not I. So I leave you today to ponder the actual root of where chili came from. It is evident that chili usually had chile peppers in it, so my hypothesis may actually be correct. We now know why it is called chili, but I still wonder why we eat it hot and not chilly.
Thanks for reading, this has been another . . . No, Mariah, you can not have another pretzel!
