The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-22
CRAZE FOR CHILE
Topeka People Have Evidently
Become Chile Mad.
Women and School Children
Regular DevOtees.
FIVE THOUSAND A DAY
of Number of Topeka
People Who Partake.
This Hot Dish Unknown a Dozen
Years Ago.

Chile con carne! Topeka has gone
wild over it, and the craze is on the
Increase. 1T takes the place in the
capital city that chop suey does in
Chicago, and it has been estimated
that every day one-tenth of the men,
women and children of Topeka in
dulge in a hot dish of this Mexican
relish. That would mean that there
is almost enough chile consumed to
allow for a dish week for each
member of the community.
And all this has come about with
in a comparatively short space of
time. A matter of slightly more than
a dozen years ago this peppery article
of diet was something which had been
told of but not seen. number of
persons claim to have been the orig
inal cause of the present fad, but pos
sibly the man who had more to do
than any one else towards establish
ing the habit is w. B. Warren, THE
original chile man of Topeka.
Twelve years ago Mr.. Warren open
ed little chile room on East Fourth
street and for several days as a mat
ter of education he dealt out chile,
gratis, to hundreds of people, but it is
said at that time he was a novice him
self at the chile business and the ar
ticle that he served was rather in the
form of soup. 1t didn't look as things
were going to pay out, as the people
with new dish, and as a consequence
the dispenser of the warm goods went
to Parsons for a few months where
he Jared no better. He finally made
up his mind to give Topeka another
tryout, and presevering, the city is
now chile mad
In making the rounds of the chile
rooms-there are about 35 of them
in the city-some interesting facts
were CLEANED. A rough estimate of
he 1.1,ears of hot 1I,sI1
each day is 5000. This would mean
an average of about $50 persons that
are served at each restaurant where
chile is sold. In some places the fig
ure would not reach this notch, but
In other establishments from two to
eight hundred people are served.
The school children are the largest
consumers of the red hot relish. some
Of them indulging in several dishes a
day The clerks come a close second,
and the women are not far behind. 1t
has been a matter of education, and at
first the latter especially progressed
with caution. but "eat three dishes and
they are wild over it - was the way one
woman expressed it who presides over
the making of an excellent brand of
the article
From to o'clock in the evening
IS perhaps the busiest time of day for
those who sell the hot STUFF and then
the trade again becomes brisk after the
theater, although during the entire af-
terroon there is much chile sold. A
great deal of chile is sent outside of
the lunch rooms.
Perhaps the place where the craze
is most apparent is among the tele-
phone girls, who send out for the Mex
lean concoctiOn at all times of the day.
There seems to be no letting up to the
fad and if it continues at the rate 1t
has been increasing during the past
few years there is no telling where 1t
will stop.
1t was stated that after the theater
nine out of ten of the women who go
into a certain restaurant for refresh
lnents call for chile. The women were
rather cautious in learning the habit.
Possibly the first dish she won't eat
said one who is in a position to know.
THE first time you must give it dry
rot so strong" One man put this sign
out as trap for the feminine portion
of the population: what's good for
man is good for woman
Each dispenser of chile has q special
recipe, and it is stated that as high as
$40 or $50 is often paid for the secret.
There is one dealer, however, in the
city who has made a considerable pile
selling his secret at So per!
According to w. B. Warren, since
1903, he has had 1900 pounds of pep
pers shipped in for his personal use
AS this ingredient PLAYS but a small
Fart in the makeup of a dish of chile
the immense amount of the relish sold
can be realized. Hamburger steak and
beans sorm the chief ingredients of the
dish that IS now so popular
Agustin Alba, who originally hailed
from the City of Mexico, probably
serves more chile than anyone else in
the city. His place of establishment
Is in the ten hundred block on Kansas
avenue and he deals out hundreds of
dishes of chile each day to both the