North Carolinan chili. Photo: Zen, Flickr

If Texans weren't too tough to cry, the latest news out of the International Chili Society might set them to sobbing.

The cookoff-sanctioning organization has announced that the World's Championship Chili Cookoff will be held east of the Mississippi River for the first time in its 42-year history. The October event in Charleston, W. Va., represents the final slippage of the Southwest's grip on what was once a thoroughly regional foodstuff: A "bowl of red" has officially become an all-American dish.

"People have really latched on to it," ICS Executive Director Carol Hancock says of chili's pervasive popularity. "They just enjoy something they can do that's relatively inexpensive."

While there are nearly as many origin stories for chili as there are top-secret recipes for it, most agree it got its start in Texas (where, according to "The Food Lovers Companion," it is considered "a crime" to add beans to the meaty dish). The Lone Star State creation, whether pioneered by hungry vaqueros or indiscriminating jailhouse cooks, found its way to Southern California, where more than a dozen devotees gathered for a chili throwdown in 1967.
"It used to be all the champions came from California, including myself," recalls Hancock, who revolutionized championship chili cooking in the mid-1980s by chopping her beef into cubes. "Not so much anymore."

Competitive chili cooks tend to "clone" previous winners, Hancock says, so the regional differences that prevailed in early contests have largely disappeared. Floridians no longer make sweet chilis, and folks from Cincy have adjusted their spice mixes to reflect national tastes. Serious chiliheads now pride themselves on "cubes and sauce" (a la Hancock, a cubed beef with tomato-based sauce), a recipe Yankee competitors seem to have mastered.

In 2007, the championship's five top finishers were East Coasters.

"The champion was from Massachusetts, and the man who placed fifth was from Canada," Hancock says. "I'm sure the westerners were astounded."

Eleven years ago, the ICS added a chili verde category, hoping to create a niche for the Coloradoans and New Mexicans who specialize in the dish. The reigning chili verde champion hails from Ohio.

In one last after-the-bell punch to already reeling buckeroos, the ICS this year is planning to create a "homestyle" category, for which any chili – even those (cover your ears, Texans) with beans – would be eligible.

"I think that'll be the wave of future," Hancock predicts.