Tuesday, December 19, 2006

"Chili" vs. "Sauce" Chapter IV

A reader who grew up on the west bank of the Ohio River but has lived in disparate places in Ohio and WV wrote with an interesting observation about the whole Sauce/Chili semantic wars. He writes:

"I've found that "chili" is the preferred phrase in the interior of both OH and WV while "sauce" is the word in the Ohio Valley proper."
This would explain why Huntingtonians call it "sauce" but does not account for Fairmont and Marion County. But as I wrote in the Yann's review, the stuff that Yann's puts on hot dogs really does not resemble chili at all, neither in appearance or in taste. It has a much finer texture that any chili sold in the Charleston area and the spice is so complex that chili powder is the least noticeable ingredient.

This might call for a Chili/Sauce map to go along with the Slaw Map. Maybe Professor Film Geek can assign the research to one of his classes. Just an idea.

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