National Chili Day is marked on Feb.24 to celebrate America's legendary dish that is considered comfort food by many.

Chili is a classic spicy stew made with chili peppers, ground meat, beans and tomatoes. It is believed that the immigrants from the Canary Islands first introduced the dish to the U.S while they settled in San Antonio.

Although not known by the name chili, the earliest description of the dish was written by J.C. Clopper who lived near Houston. Today, most families in the U.S have their own traditional recipes to make the dish or can get themselves their favorite meal from the best outlets.

On this National Chili Day, here are some fun facts about chili:

  1. Chili is listed as the official dish under the Texas legislature.
  2. A survey by National Today Data Science found that only 5 percent of Americans are not fond of chili, while 24 percent of the Americans consider it as their perfect comfort food.
  3. The survey also found that 26 percent of Americans prefer their chili spicy while 31 percent like to have cheese as the accompaniment.
  4. Around 52 percent of people prefer to have chili in a bowl while 12 percent like to have it on a hot dog.
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representational image pixabay

The best way to celebrate National Chili Day is by enjoying a hot bowl of chili with your favorite accompaniment. While the bowl of steaming chili warms you up and keep you satiated, here are some interesting quotes about the classic dish that you would like to know:

courtesy: Brainy Quotes, Food Reference.com

  1. "I am the kind of person who really will drive hours for a bowl of chili. I'm not a three-star restaurant kind of a person; I'm just a food person."- Nora Ephron
  2. "Every December, I host a tree-trimming party. I serve chili with cornbread and lots of good wine. It's a wonderful party, and it shows how much adults like to play."-Maya Angelou
  3. "A hot, deep bowl of venison chili is as close to manna from Heaven as you're likely to find in deer camp."-Jonathan Miles
  4. "Chili is one of the great peasant foods. It is one of the few contributions America has made to world cuisine. Eaten with cornbread, 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
  5. "Any man that eats Chili and Cornbread can't be all bad" Carroll Shelby
  6. "Next to jazz music, there is nothing that lifts the spirit and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili."- Harry James
  7. "Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili."- last words of Kit Carson, American frontiersman (1809-1868)
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