Shane’s Sweet & Spicy Chili (and a Tiny Vegan Victory!)
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Every fall, the husband’s company holds a chili cook-off. While he always talks a good game about entering, the day always seems to pass him by, chili-less. (Not to imply that he’s bluffing; rather, he makes the hour-long trek into the office but once a week, leaving him out of the loop and slightly less motivated to drive in to enter when the day finally rolls around.) guess 2009 was his year, though, because he entered a dish and came in…*drumroll please*….second place! Out of, um, four dishes. But wait! It gets better.
As y’all probably already know, the husband is a vegan like moi. And his veganism is well-known around the office. (All those “team” and catered office lunches.) So of course he couldn’t enter the dish under his own name right? For starters, he didn’t want anyone to hold his chili’s “lack” of “meat” against him. (Call this the “weird vegan shit” factor.) Plus, he had another, hidden agenda – an agenda which was, dare I say, even more important than winning. He wanted to see if he could make a chili that might “pass” as not-vegan. Hence all the Boca Burgers and TVP in the recipe below!
Well, as I’ve already said, his chili came in 2nd out of four entries. His runner-upedness is due solely to the fact that he made his chili too damned spicy. Good for him, cause that’s his thing – but for his office mates, not so much. I told him: if you want to win the popular vote, you’ve got create a product/message/dish that’s watered down, inoffensive, palatable to the masses. In the end, he refused to compromise his culinary integrity, and 2nd place is his reward. Whaddyagonnado?
More importantly, no one suspected that his chili was vegan! Everyone thought his “meat” was the real deal. (Um, wait.) A few office mates even knew or suspected that he’d enter a vegan dish under someone else’s name, and so were on the lookout for an impostor. Vegan WIN!
Anyhow, here’s the recipe – as best he can remember it, that is. There’s a whole lot of taste testing and recalibrating involved. Also, it makes a rather large pot, so you may want to adjust the portions accordingly.
As I’m not one for excessive spice – some mild salsas are too much for me (!) – I did not go near this dish. Nope, it’s Chocolate Chili (hold the chiles and chili powder) for me, thank you very much. (Grounds for divorce, anyone?)
Shane’s Sweet & Spicy Chili

Every fall, the husband’s company holds a chili cook-off. While he always talks a good game about entering, the day always seems to pass him by, chili-less. (Not to imply that he’s bluffing; rather, he makes the hour-long trek into the office but once a week, leaving him out of the loop and slightly less motivated to drive in to enter when the day finally rolls around.) guess 2009 was his year, though, because he entered a dish and came in…*drumroll please*….second place! Out of, um, four dishes. But wait! It gets better.
As y’all probably already know, the husband is a vegan like moi. And his veganism is well-known around the office. (All those “team” and catered office lunches.) So of course he couldn’t enter the dish under his own name right? For starters, he didn’t want anyone to hold his chili’s “lack” of “meat” against him. (Call this the “weird vegan shit” factor.) Plus, he had another, hidden agenda – an agenda which was, dare I say, even more important than winning. He wanted to see if he could make a chili that might “pass” as not-vegan. Hence all the Boca Burgers and TVP in the recipe below!
Well, as I’ve already said, his chili came in 2nd out of four entries. His runner-upedness is due solely to the fact that he made his chili too damned spicy. Good for him, cause that’s his thing – but for his office mates, not so much. I told him: if you want to win the popular vote, you’ve got create a product/message/dish that’s watered down, inoffensive, palatable to the masses. In the end, he refused to compromise his culinary integrity, and 2nd place is his reward. Whaddyagonnado?
More importantly, no one suspected that his chili was vegan! Everyone thought his “meat” was the real deal. (Um, wait.) A few office mates even knew or suspected that he’d enter a vegan dish under someone else’s name, and so were on the lookout for an impostor. Vegan WIN!
Anyhow, here’s the recipe – as best he can remember it, that is. There’s a whole lot of taste testing and recalibrating involved. Also, it makes a rather large pot, so you may want to adjust the portions accordingly.
As I’m not one for excessive spice – some mild salsas are too much for me (!) – I did not go near this dish. Nope, it’s Chocolate Chili (hold the chiles and chili powder) for me, thank you very much. (Grounds for divorce, anyone?)
Shane’s Sweet & Spicy Chili





















