[Sca-cooks] History of the "stew" that is Chili

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 21, 2011, at 2:45 PM, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> Anyone know the history of chili, the American dish of beans and/or meat, tomatoes, chili pepper, etc.? On another SCA list i am on, someone is claiming that it derives from Jewish adafina/dafina/tafina

Frank X. Tolbert's "A Bowl Of Red" is still generally regarded, after nearly 40 years (give or take) as the definitive work on American Chili. He seems to feel that while there are Meso-American traditions involved, the dish in its current form is the joint invention of chuck wagon and prison cooks.

One has to be really careful about confusing "has things in common with" and "derives from"... .

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter