Beans To You

     Chili lovers have strong opinions.  Specific ingredients such as beans have become  heated topics more than once.  Whether beans belong in Chili is a question that will truly never be answered but my personal preference is "the more beans the better the chili pot makes".  I won't go as far as to say Chili without beans is nothing more than a meat sauce but that's probably because I've been eating Pintos my whole life and I'm not about to stop now.
     Regardless of the ingredients, Chili is good almost any way you fix it.  If you want to make a case for bean-less Chili I'll eat that bowl also.  But the half of me that thinks it is Mexican can't really comprehend Chili without beans.  The other half of me thinks its OK to top a hot dog with Chili when I really know Chili belongs in a bowl topped with cheese and a few extra onions.  My only dilemma is do I serve Chili with crackers or cornbread.
     Chili can be made anyway one likes because Chili takes many forms.  Changes in ingredients happen all the time because no two pots of the red concoction  are ever alike.  If  I've  heard it once I heard it twice  "the chili is the best I've ever eaten".   Chili is an entire meal, there is really not a right or wrong way to cook it.  Whether freshly cooked or setting leftover in the fridge for a week, its a dish of interesting and complex flavors no mater if it contains beans or not.