Gender reveal chili? Yes. Read on.
Chili
I recently when to my niece’s gender reveal party. She and her friends used to work at Chipotle, so they decided to make a lavish burrito station for the party. It was fantastic.
There was a lot of leftover food, and no one seemed to want it. And I mean a LOT. They were contemplating throwing it out. THROWING IT OUT! I couldn’t have that, so I took a bunch of it home: three quarters of a gallon of salsa, a gallon of seasoned beef, a gallon of seasoned pinto beans, a tray of desserts, four gallon bags of shredded lettuce, a gallon bag full of shredded cheese, and a big tub of sour cream. This made barely a dent in the amount of leftovers!
I made a salad out of the lettuce right away, but we couldn’t eat it all. At least we ate some of it, though.
With the rest of the stuff, I made chili. I cooked the salsa in an Instant Pot for about 20 minutes, then went at it with a potato masher. Added the beef and four tablespoons of chili powder and gave it another five minutes. Added the beans and heated through. Unfortunately, it was as salty as sea water. So I had to buy a large can of no-salt crushed tomatoes and stir that in, with maybe a quarter-cup of brown sugar. That did the trick. It turned out really pretty great. I melted generous amounts of cheese over the servings and gave them a big, fat dollop of sour cream. One of the best chilis I’ve ever made!
Gender
Speaking of gender reveals, I’ve always thought it odd that we apparently find gender to be so important, that we’ve designed our language such that we must reveal the gender of anyone we write or talk about, like it or not.
Think about it. How do you introduce a person as a topic in a new paragraph? Using their name would be one way. Names are meant in general to be gender specific, so the person’s gender might be revealed simultaneously with the introduction. That’s how important gender apparenly is. But no matter how you initially refer to them, you don’t have much choice but to move forward with the use of pronouns, which are unmistakably gendered in our language. You can’t get very far in such a discussion without pronouns. Try it. You have to do some real literary gynmastics to avoid it.
In discussing the person, you’re free to reveal whatever as much as you want about them, or as little. But English language forces you to reveal their gender, whether or not it’s even remotely relevant, and you have to do it within two or three sentences.
Let’s say I’m reading a book by a foreign author, and I don’t know their language well enough to be positive about which names are girl names and which names are boy names in their culture. So even though I’ve read their book, and know their name, if I want to write or talk about them and their ideas, I have to go somewhere to deliberately look up their gender so that I can use the right pronoun! Absurd.
Them/They/Their
That’s why I’ve taken to using “them” as a neutral pronoun, as I did in the previous paragraph. I’ll bet that you didn’t even notice me slipping into it. It may not have dawned on you that I committed a few grammar felonies when I did so. And I’m all but positive that you didn’t accidentally think I had suddenly shifted to the use of a plural. This is exactly the same way we use “you.” At this point, I’d admonish you naysayers to get used to it, but the truth is, you’re already used to it.
You might think that that’s just a quirk of our langage and that it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s not like we discovered our language. We invented it. Obviously to our ancestors, gender was so criticial that you couldn’t refer to someone without mentioning it. And we, so long as we continue to use that language, consent to the idea.
Gender Reveal Chili
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I would have taken some of the leftovers too. Throwing it out would be a crime when there are thousands who don’t have enough. Sometimes we would have leftovers after a big photoshoot and I would call the Shelters in the area and if they picked up, they would be in for a huge winning!
Well, English is certainly gender specific but at least we don’t have gender related nouns like the French or Spanish do!
I was at a baby shower on the weekend and one of the ‘games’ they had was to give the couple gender neutral names for the baby, one for every letter of the alphabet! I chose Taylor, of course.
There is a small typo in the second paragraph under the Gender heading (apparently).
I had many lean years when I was first starting out on my own. They made an impact. Plus I think there’s something creative, satisfying, and responsible about avoiding waste.
I love Taylor as a boy or girl name! Good choice.
Thanks for the typo!
Throwing out food is a sin. I am so glad that you saved all the food and reinvent this beautiful chillie.
I agree! I hate food waste.
I bet that chili was delicious. Good job on using most everything up. Interesting, I never really thought about how much our language reveals gender but yes, it does.
It was! And thanks!
Questi sono i piatti che adoro, appetitosi e appaganti!!!!
Thanks!
It’s a good thing you were there to save all that food from being dumped. And you turned the food into a big batch of deliciousness. I tip my hat to you!
Thank you!
Those gender reveal parties are insane! I mean, some of them are. A burrito bar sounds way more fun. Interesting post!
Thanks, Mimi!
I love leftovers so I would have been in line asking for some small bags to go. You could still take the majority. 🙂 The gender pronouns have certainly come to the forefront in the past few years.
🙂
Oh that sounds like a ridiculous amount of leftovers! You did a great job utilizing them for this delicious chili (and also apparently salvaging the overseasoned ingredients.) That’s a win-win 😉
Thank you, Ben!
It’s incredible how a simple leftover meal can spark such profound reflections. Your improvisation with the salsa, beef, and beans turned out brilliantly, especially salvaging it with the crushed tomatoes and brown sugar smart move!
Thank you!
I completely agree with you about pronouns. And I was thrilled when you used “them“ in your paragraph. I didn’t think it was unusual at all, probably because I’m used to working with a lot of young students who are very passionate about pronoun usage. We use them, they, and their all the time without even thinking about it. But, when someone asks us to use those pronouns, we recoil and horror. Go figure!
I love the concept of the gender revealed chili! That’s a hoot. And I would never have allowed that much food to go to waste… Brilliant usage, Jeff!
Thanks on all counts, David!
It must have been a huge party to have gallons of leftovers. I love your creativity in decided to make chili with what you took home. And the nice thing is that chili freezes well if you had more than one meal’s worth.
Thanks, Karen! It was a mid-sized party, but they perpared a TON of food.
I was raised to never (ever!) throw away leftovers — not even a spoonful. Love the chili, and the post and pronoun insight. 🙂 ~Valentina
Thank you!