Given the popularity of chili, this was probably inevitable.Chili con carne, better known as chili for short, was named Official State Dish of Texas back in the late 1970s. Why chili and not barbecue or steak? According to Paul Burka, political writer, food guru, and all-around resident curmudgeon of Texas Monthly magazine, the esteemed members of the Texas State Legislature were bribed with beer (probably enough to do the trick) and free chili by a lobbyist for the cause. In his
