"It's a state secret," Nancy Larson said, "You know how he is." Despite years developing her persuasive powers as an advocate for rural Minnesota, Nancy Larson remains unable to convince her husband to release any of his recipes.
Perhaps Merle Larson fears getting burned by his own concoction at Saturday's Meeker County DFL Chili Cookoff from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Darwin Rod and Gun Club.
According to the Litchfield Independent:
Meeker County DFLers have a chili cooking contest every year, an event that helps raise money for the party. Apparently, it also serves as a training ground for some in the party to export their culinary talents to other parts of the state.
Last spring, Larson captured the SD 29 and 30 grand champion title in Rochester (photo). Now, as the temperatures plunge and the crockpots bubble, central Minnesota DFL activists look forward to a fiery fundraiser.
Will the category winners who lost out to Larson's pork and green chili dish venture up to Meeker County on Saturday (perhaps making a pit stop at the McLeod County DFL Fall Festival earlier in the after at the Biscay Bar and Grill)?
Is the DFL ready for yet another gut-wrenching internal battle? Isn't having most of the many gubernatorial candidates on hand at both events enough to stir the pot?
Bluestem Prairie isn't sure, though last spring's mild category winner, Liz McLoone Dybvig, has agreed to release her award-winning recipe*, unlike chef Larson.
Dybvig's skill as a regional labor organizer is clear in her chili strategy: she accommodates traditional Minnesotan's reluctance to try anything too spicy with the drive to unite traditional Northeast DFL strongholds with new gains in Southern Minnesota.
She writes:
"I have only pride in my Minnesota Home-towns Chili recipe, so of course I want to share it with others, so that they too can enjoy the love this Chili brings to people's stomachs and hearts. The two key ingredients come from my husband's hometown of Sandstone and my parents' hometown of Waseca."
Larson's response was a low growl. As it was over the phone, Bluestem wasn't so sure about that.
Should a chili carpetbagger--or beanbaggers as they are sometimes called by oldtimers--defeat repeat champion LArson, he can seek revenge at the next CD 29 & 30 Chili Cook Off on November 7.
The Meeker fundraiser isn't the only chili feed heating up progressive rural Minnesota's political landscape this fall. DFLers in Brown County are tossing their hats into the circles of competitive chili with a cookoff tonight at the Hermann Heights Park Shelter beginning at 5:30 p.m.
One day after the Meeker cookoff, the Pine County DFL will host a Donkey Chili Feed (probably made by donkeys, rather than with them). The Mower County DFL Chili Feed follows next on Saturday, October 24.
*The recipe will be posted here when BSP receives it.
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