Good stuff.
So what is real honest to heavens real Chili ?? How the heck far back in time are you guys going??
Lets see, 100 years ago Chili was made with just beef or any kind of meat from Lizard to dog, water hot peppers and some kind of corn meal.
After WW1 the Gringos on the border added tomatoes and beans. Spices as to garlic and what not. The original Chili had changed and continued to change as time went on.
The Veterans that returned north of the border from the war all had their own ideas about Chili. What started out as meat, water, hot peppers and corn meal, was now to go through the Nation in all different forms.
Chili in the north was different from chili in the west or south, 100 years in the making and now the food is regional, to bean or not to bean, What ever all tastes good, the original Chili of meat water hot peppers and corn meal is fortunately not an option for us today.
Yankees want beans, Texans hate beans, rest of the Nation are to bean or not to bean. That is the question.