Chili Quotes

“Chili, spice of red Thursday, which is the day of reckoning. Day which invites us to pick up the sack of our existence and shake it inside out. Day of suicide, day of murder.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices

“Chili is one of the great peasant foods. It is one of the few contributions America has made to world cuisine. Eaten with corn bread, sweet onion, sour cream, it contains all five of the elements deemed essential by the sages of the Orient: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, and bitter.”
― Rex Stout

“Chill out and enjoy your chili that's not from Chile!”
― Judi Barrett, Grandpa's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Cookbook

“Chili is one of those marvelous-simple, elemental, all-important, and fundamental concepts that has been elaborated out of all recognition: rather like justice, or objective reality, or ‘being’ (ens) in Aquinas. Lean closer and I will whisper to you a horrific, soul-shattering secret: there are actually people so lost to any sense of decency that they put beans in chili. (I hope you sent the children of tender years out of the room before we discussed that horror, lest they be warped for life).”
― Markham Shaw Pyle

“Margo missed cooking for people- really cooking. Here family, her friends, even her husband. Her greatest pleasure had come when they rolled their eyes with the ecstasy of a bite of her chicken spiedini, oozing with melted cheese under a crisp crust of buttery fried panko. Or her Cincinnati chili, aromatic with cinnamon and cocoa, which she served on homemade corn spaghetti. Topped with aged cheddar and sharp, fresh-chopped onion, it had been one of Calvin's favorites, and he always had her make it for Redskins games on Sundays.”
― Beth Harbison, The Cookbook Club: A Novel of Food and Friendship

“Margo missed cooking for people- really cooking. Her family, her friends, even her husband. Her greatest pleasure had come when they rolled their eyes with the ecstasy of a bite of her chicken spiedini, oozing with melted cheese under a crisp crust of buttery fried panko. Or her Cincinnati chili, aromatic with cinnamon and cocoa, which she served on homemade corn spaghetti. Topped with aged cheddar and sharp, fresh-chopped onion, it had been one of Calvin's favorites, and he always had her make it for Redskins games on Sundays.”
― Beth Harbison, The Cookbook Club: A Novel of Food and Friendship

“Your mother’s chili was onions, hamburger, tomato soup, kidney beans, no chili powder, no peppers. Mexican flags flew at half staff every time she made it.”
― Dennis Vickers, Mikawadizi Storms

“Just the right amount of cumin and oregano, I can tell," he adds, "and with that zing you got the chile peppers right on the button- three-alarm, I'd say."
"Plus paprika and Tabasco and guess what? Beer," I inform him. "But wanna know my real secret? A little bit of bitter chocolate."
"Chocolate!" he exclaims.
"Yep, chocolate."
"How much?" he asks real excited.
"That's my little secret, Mr. Dewitt," I tease him as I chuckle.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"I'm so glad it's not too soupy," Mrs. Dewitt says next. "Just thick enough."
"Masa harina?" he asks.
"My, my, Mr. Dewitt," I try to compliment him, "I can tell you do know your bowl o' red."
He finishes up the bowl and lets out this crude laugh. "Don't fix any myself, but I warned you, sister, you're dealing with real chiliheads around this house."
"So you've decided you like it without the beans?" I ask.
He wipes his mouth on the linen napkin like he's just eaten Russian caviar instead of plain old Texas chili. "Now, I ain't saying that by a long shot, Loretta, 'cause for me chili's not chili without beans. But I got an open mind, and besides, you say you also fix a big pot of pintos on the side?"
"Yeah, I do, spiced up with jalapeños."
"What else you serve with your chili?"
"Anything you want," I tell him in a real confident tone. "Guacamole, coleslaw, rice, tacos, sour cream, red pepper vinegar, and maybe some corn tortillas my Mexican helper makes- just tell me whatcha like.”
― James Villas, Hungry for Happiness

“Jos murskaat kuivattuja chilejä purkkiin, pidä silmät, nenä ja suu aina suojattuina. Älä vastaa puhelimeen äläkä kättele anoppia ohimennen työn aikana!”
― Arno Kasvi, Palstalta parempaa

“There's a comfort to be found in this most elementary of rituals: the heating of the whole milk in a copper saucepan; the adding of the nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, chili powder. Guy has taught me that chili was what the Mayans used in chocolate; that cold and bitter forerunner of the drink we enjoy today. Chili has special properties; it's a powerful antioxidant with antibiotic properties, and like Theobroma cacao, it boosts the immune system, lifts the mood and makes the senses more alert. Chili and chocolate are soulmates, just as some people are soulmates, bound together for centuries. Heat the milk to a shiver, then add the grated chocolate: Guy only uses the darkest kind, but I prefer something sweeter. Brown sugar to combat the heat, and cardamom, for freshness.”
― Joanne Harris, Vianne