Eighteen teams slaved over vats of aromatic chili, Jan. 21, as they faced off in the 28th annual Chili Cook Off.
The battle of flavours attracted swarms of people to the Jasper Activity Centre, where they were able to taste as many, or as few, of the chefs’ creations as they could stomach.
That wasn’t the case for the panel of local judges, however, as they had to taste all 18, carefully dissecting the flavours and textures of each and every chili before rating them on a variety of different attributes in order to select a winner.
After all was said and done—and their faces were sufficiently stuffed—the judges chose the smoky wild boar and chorizo chili as the best of 2016.
Taking the prize and bragging rights was the team from Jasper Pizza Place.
The second place chili—with pulled pork, green onions, cheese, whipped jalapeno cream and a cornbread muffin—went to SunDog Tours. Third place went to Parks Canada’s team from the Palisades Stewardship Education Centre with their traditional, “no gimmicks” chili, made with chili powder, cumin, cayenne and cocoa.
This year’s people’s choice award winner—the team that netted the most votes from the crowd—was Sysco.
The prizes didn’t end there, though.
Beyond the mouthwatering chili, there were also elaborate booth displays to be judged.
This year’s first place booth was Coco’s Cafe’s “Freaky Tiki” bar with a larger-than-life tiki mascot, worn by Aaron Parcels, and a few hula girls behind the bar. Second place went to the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre for its Simpson’s inspired booth and third place to Tourism Jasper for the “Road Kill Cafe.”
Nicole Veerman [email protected]
