July 19, 2006

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2nd Annual Gainesville Student Ghetto Chili Cookoff

In Gainesville, the presence of the University of Florida has created a cohesive neighborhood that is ubiquitous in college towns across America: the Student Ghetto. This area is one of the livelier areas of town, with a culture and a community all its own. Most of the kids that live there are into doing fun and interesting things as opposed to standard distractions like television and video games. In this spirit, or perhaps simply in the spirit of drinking and socializing, the annual Gainesville Student Ghetto Chili Cookoff was born.

GSGCC 2k6 took place at Rachel Teague and Sarah Ritz's house. It was more of a potluck than a true cookoff, as any food was welcome, but chili and cornbread were highly encouraged. Six chili dishes showed up, and all of them were pretty good. Thankfully none of them were any type of vegetarian chili, because "vegetarian" and "chili" are not words that should be used in the same sentence, unless of course you are pointing out how those words should not be used in the same sentence. Vegetarianism has its place, and that place is not a chili cookoff.

The chilis at the event ran the gamut from sweet to pure meat, watery and mild to thick and spicy. My chili was the thickest and the hottest, but noone really seemed to like it that much more than the others. There weren't really any judges, so there wasn't a clear winner. There were definitely some creative and tasty entries though. The general consensus was that Luke's chili (the one in the giant tub below) was the best. He works at an awesome restaurant called Cafe Gardens, and had some cooks there assist him in assembling his chili. The most creative chili there was a tater-tot casserole type chili, which I had never seen before. The cornbreads weren't bad either, and my favorite item by far was Keeley's chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. She made a gigantic tray of them and they were freaking perfect. At least 20 people got stuffed, drank Flying Dog or Pabst, and generally had a good time.

The end result of all this activity was that pretty much everyone in attendance got the itis. There was even plenty of food left over to give out to the homeless crackheads that surround the area.

Posted by Chris Santoro at July 19, 2006 10:04 PM | Comments (8) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts


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I'm planning on rocking all sorts of food challenges in the District come fall. Iron Chef shit and all.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 20, 2006 12:36 AM


Oh, and I like my chili thick, meaty, and not too spicy. But the best looking chili there, in my opinion, is the one in the orangish-brown crock-pot looking thing.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 20, 2006 12:37 AM


Awesome. Mine is objectively the nastiest looking. Its just a bad photo. Interestingly enough I thought that chili was the worst. It had brown sugar in it, and I didnt like the sweet flavor at all. I like salty, meaty, spicy, garlic-y, sour(lime) stuff in chili.

Posted by: Chris Santoro at July 20, 2006 12:56 AM


I prefer chilli that has a balance between salt and sugar and enough sauce that its coated but not drenched. A few veggies or chopped smoked red pepper adds a little textural variety.

I have a notion that men are more inclined towards salty than sweet and that this preference has something to do with the blessed Y chromosome. Hmm, I will have to explore this hunch further.

Posted by: Natasha D'Souza at July 20, 2006 12:16 PM


I have never made chili. But in theory, I think a little brown sugar sounds good in the chili. I use a little brown sugar in my spaghetti sauce, too. In fact, I might even add some burgundy wine to my chili. Oh, and take out the pesky chili beans. And make mine with a bit more tomato base. And serve my chili over angelhair pasta. And grate some parmesan over it. And eat it with my Italian friends Guido and Leonardo. And they will remark that my chili is absolutely delicious, though somehow familiar.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 20, 2006 2:09 PM


Which one is yours, anyway.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 20, 2006 2:10 PM


First one, second column...it looks like a solid paste in a clear tupperware. I promise it tasted a lot better than it looks in that picture. It's essentially close to the recipe for chili that I posted here a while back, only with beer in it and more lime and habanero peppers.

I like beans in my chili, notably black and pinto mixed.

And yeah, I think a little brown sugar would be good in it, as long as it doesn't make the chili too noticably sweet. Balance is pretty much the key to everything in cooking.

Posted by: Chris Santoro at July 20, 2006 7:18 PM


Oh, yours looks good, actually. I probably would've picked yours second.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 21, 2006 1:49 PM

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