The 2010 Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cookoff is coming our way! This year's cookoff, the 22nd annual edition, is now in the planning stages as we speak. Check back here soon for more news on what we'll be doing for this year's cookoff, and for information on how you can be part of the cookoff- as a contestant or as a volunteer.

This year's Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cookoff will take place on Sunday November 7, and right now we have it set for the same great location we had last year, the historic Travis County Farmers Market on Burnet Road. We're psyched about getting the cookoff going again and can't wait to see all of you there this year!

Layne Lynch, one of the judges who came to rank the all the chilis yesterday, is a writer for UT's Daily Texan student newspaper. She's written a great article about the chili cook-off from her perspective as a judge. You can read it at www.DailyTexanOnline.com.

What a day! Our 21st annual chili cook-off was a huge success, and first and foremost we want to thank everyone who came out to enjoy the music, the door prizes, the exhibits and of course all 23 of the vegan chilis!

The day started off kind of iffy, being heavily overcast, and even a few raindrops here and there. But by the time the gates opened, things were starting to clear up, and soon we had a perfect, bright and sunny autumn day. We had a line at the gate that lasted until 2:00, there were so many people who wanted to come!

We were wonderfully entertained by our emcee Jenny Hoff from KXAN and by the music of AlanRoy Wilhite and Friends, and the chili teams themselves did quite a bit of entertaining too. Not to mention all the chili they produced- everyone had to make at least five gallons, but most made six or seven and a few made ten or more!

In the end, the six judges chose the chili from the Texas Humane Legislative Network for the top prize. This was their first year ever with a chili entry! Second place went to Molly Frisinger's "Spice is Nice", and third place went to Chef Chaya Rao's Masala chili- which was one of two chili recipes she prepared that day. Incidentally, LSVCCO veterans Dog Almighty also entered two chilis!

The People's Choice award once again belonged to Don and Alice Barnes with their "Quintessenual" chili. Their chili is so good, we believe it's been seven or eight years since they did not win the popular vote!

The Best Booth award went to Sunny Day Farms, also first-time winners, ousting the Vegetarian Network of Austin's "Evil Scientists" who won in 2007 and 2008.

The Lone Star Vegetarian Network would like to thank Jenny Hoff, AlanRoy Wilhite, Jay Saenger at Georgetown Shirt Company (we nearly sold out of the t-shirts), Kevin Brand and everyone at (512) Brewing Co. (whose IPA was highly praised this day), Fritz Blaw at Motorblade, Melanie Colpaart and everyone at Greenling Organic Delivery, all of our judges, door prize donors, exhibitors, vendors, naturally the 21 chili teams, of course everyone who volunteered their time and energy to help us put on the event, and especially, once again, everyone who came to enjoy the event!

Stay tuned to this website, or join us on Facebook or Twitter, for further updates on how things went at this year's cook-off, including photos once we can get them organized. And in a few months we'll begin the planning for the 22nd annual cook-off in 2010. It'll almost certainly be one of the second or third Sunday in November, so be sure to mark your calendars!

Just wanted to help out another event coming up real soon in Austin that's on the same page we are... you've all heard of the Turkey Trot races held all over the country on Thanksgiving Day. Well, Ben Palmer of Vegans Rock Austin is organizing a similar race with a more appropriate theme for people who care about animals: a Save a Turkey Trot! It's the Saturday after our Cook-Off (the 20th), and you can check out all the details on the event and how to register at www.SaveATurkeyTrot.org!