This is exactly what I’m talking about when I say that food connects us. It brings us together in a positive way. Our friends, the Smiths, have held an annual chili cookoff for three years now. You don’t have to bring anything to attend, but anyone who wants to can enter their best chili recipe. There’s judges. There’s a belt (like one of those WWF first place winner belts) for the winner. There’s all kinds of chili accompaniments, meaning we bring the crockpots of chili, and the Smiths provide the sour cream, shredded cheese, cornbread, Tostitos, and any other chili side you can imagine. We drink. We eat (LOTS and LOTS) of chili. Yes, some of us might suffer a little indigestion that night, but its worth it. There’s a corn hole tournament for anyone who wants to enter. There’s even medals for that. Kurt and I won last year, and it was like we earned that medal at the Olympics. It has become one of our favorite nights of the year, and I never knew how many different chili recipes there are. This is one event in our lives that gets an awesome group of people into the spirit of food. This year there were 24 crockpots of chili, all competing against one another. They even tripped the circuit and cut the power at one point. Its a phenomenal night, and it wasn’t rocket science. It all started with food. It all started with chili. Are there any food events that you attend? Email me. I’d love to hear about them!