In response to Matt Mooney's praise of the Lenten dining hall food to come ("Say cheese," Feb. 9), I am once again reminded of a horrible atrocity our dear dining hall commits on a weekly basis. Every day that I pass by the soup stand in North Dining Hall and spot the placard listing "Texas Chili" as one of the options I cringe with distaste. How can it be that our dining hall, ranked one of the top in the nation, catering to students around the world, can make the appalling mistake of putting beans in Texas chili? To quote a Texas chili purist, "If you know beans about chili, you know chili ain't got no beans." As the official state food of Texas, it hits home when I see something so iconic misrepresented. I'm not saying that some chilies can't have beans, though personally why would you want miniature dirt-like globs in your chili is beyond me. I just hate that the dining hall in their attempt to add unnecessary adjectives before their food has wronged a Texas tradition. So dear dining hall, feel free to leave the beans in, just please please please change your placard. Name it New York chili, Pennsylvania chili, [insert Yankee state] chili, just not my dear ol' Texas chili.
