| THE HISTORY OF "CHILI CON CARNE AND THE CHILI QUEENS" |
| Most chili people believe that Chili Con Carne probably started in the Southwest in about the late 1840s. The people in the Southwest put together a Pemmican that was made of beef fat, dried beef, and chili peppers, salted and pounded, and this is what became the First Brick Chili and could be boiled in water and eaten on the trail. Most people say what we call chili today started with sidewalk vendors know as The Chili Queens in the Southwestern Towns like San Antonio, Texas and Border towns in Southern Arizona like Tucson in about the late 1880s. It was more the food of the common man. The News Papers of the time talked about Chili Con Carne and The Chili Queens that were part of the Night Scene in the Southwest at that time. And being what a Bureaucracy is,the Chili Queens were still in the streets of San Antonio until about 1943 when the city health regulations made them conform to the same rules as the restaurants, this they could not do, so The Chili Queens Disappeared from the streets. Chili Con Carne as we know it today made a bit of scandal in those days. Some of the people would not let their children eat Chili and they had to Sneak Away to have their Chili. Some preachers called it Hot as Hell, The Brimstone Soup Of The Devil ! ========= From the 1860s until the late 1930s, one of the primary amusements of both visitors and locals was the food and entertainment offered in the plazas of San Antonio by the Chili Queens. These women served chili con carne and other Mexican American delicacies from dusk until dawn at various San Antonio plazas over the years -- setting up tables and benches and bringing pots of food to cook or reheat over their flickering mesquite fires and to serve by the light of their oil lanterns. As morning came, their families helped them cart everything away. Wandering musicians and singers provided a festive air to the unique proceedings unique, that is, outside Mexico. And while The Chili Queens liked to joke, banter, and flirt with customers, they were well chaperoned by family members who guarded their virtue. |
| Lydia Mendoza began her singing career in the plazas of downtown San Antonio in the early 1930s. |
| Some of The San Antonio Chili Queens in 1933 |
| Military Plaza served as a military and commercial center in San Antonio for more than two centuries. The two story building at left is the old jail (known as the Bat Cave). A saloon, a drug store and other businesses can be identified along the upper right. In the foreground, the town's famous "Chili Queens" operated "Chili Tables" to nourish and Entertain visitors of all social classes. Chilibill |
