After a frigid Gainesville weekend, over 50 people came to Loosey’s Pub to judge the bar’s third annual chili cook-off, supporting a local chapter of the feminist group National Women’s Liberation.
The cook-off featured six kinds of chili, ranging from vegetarian white to Asian-inspired sweet heat. In addition to eating hearty food, attendees watched a dominant Gator basketball performance and live performances from Gainesville acts The Kim Helm Band, Marshal Patrick and Bill Martino.
Country guitars strummed and crockpots simmered as the hungry judges poured in. Armed with small disposable cups, they sampled each of the six chilis presented and ranked them on a sheet provided by the competition organizers.
The event’s wide range of chilis stemmed from debates surrounding the food, said 44-year-old Loosey’s co-owner Danny Hughes.
From what kind of chiles to include to the everlasting “do beans belong in chili” debate, it seems as if nobody can agree on what the food actually is, he said.
“Nobody has a chili recipe,” Hughes said. “Everybody just kind of puts stuff in a pot and cooks it.”
Drew Love, a 50-year-old DJ and “budtender,” a term referring to a marijuana bartender, describes himself as a Loosey’s regular. He appreciated the warm respite against the dangerously cold weather, he said, and he was happy to support the feminist cause.
For cook-off contestant David Pinner, competing is more about being able to share his cooking with his community than bringing home the gold. The 47-year-old associate director of development at UF’s College of Health and Human Performance entered the competition primarily to support his partner, who is a member of National Women’s Liberation.
Pinner said he loves to cook, and he was excited to share his vegetarian white chili, a dish containing neither tomatoes or meat, with the judges. Chili is a labor of love – it takes hours to complete, and it’s often made in large crockpots holding multiple servings, he said. For this reason, chili has a unique feature of being a social food.
"It's definitely something that takes a long time for me to prepare, and then we can eat on it for days, and I take it to friends' houses as well,” Pinner said. “I’m not expecting to win, but it's just coming out and having fun and meeting people that makes it worth it.”
For Joshua Nemery, a 22-year-old UF political science senior, chili is more than just a stew — it’s family business, he said.
Nemery’s father was a member of the Chili Masters Organization, and Nemery’s recipe is based on his father’s, he said, going through four iterations – including turning up the heat and switching from chili powder to dried chiles.
In preparation for the competition, Nemery crafted 3 pots of his stew, sharing with friends but also leaving some for himself.
“My gastrointestinal system is in the deepest layer of hell,” he said.
But the trials faced by Nemery were not in vain. His Texas-style red chili took home the first place prize, a $20 Loosey’s gift card and an unshattered family legacy. If you’re wondering what’s in Nemery’s bowl, he declined to tell The Alligator his secret spice mix.
This year’s cook-off raised over $1,000 for National Women’s Liberation, which will be used to help fund its office space and paid staff as it continues to spread its message of fighting against male supremacy and securing free and full access to abortion and birth control, according to 38-year-old National Women’s Liberation recruitment and public events coordinator Emily Calvin.
"It's definitely a time where we all need to be coming together as a community and supporting each other,” Calvin said. “Having the support of the community and the people means the world.”
Contact Christopher Rodriguez at crodriguez@alligator.org. Follow him on X @ChrisRodri29386.
