Texas Pete vs. Wolf Brand
Today’s consumer note: a 10 oz. can of Texas Pete Chili Sauce, even bought at the modest price of 88¢, isn’t worth the price. But I had to try it. The quest for novelty doesn’t have to take grand forms. It can involve small things. It usually should involve small things, so the habit-minded human mind won’t be overwhelmed.
So I bought a can of Texas Pete. The label, done in hot colors like red and yellow and sporting a cartoon cowboy with a long whip, reveals that the TW Garner Food Co. of Winston-Salem, NC, is responsible for this chili. In the Nutrition Facts box, a serving size is one tablespoon, which leads to a calorie count of 10 per serving, which is one of the more distorted examples of label fudging I've seen.
I boiled a couple of hot dogs and got some soft new buns ready. But Texas Pete has a curious un-chili-like taste. Not bad, exactly, but… well, actually bad. I have a high tolerance for mediocre food. This has helped me get through school, be a functioning bachelor until 1993, and travel to dozens of countries. It occasionally helps me eat, and sometimes enjoy, canned chili. But bad is bad.
Texas Pete, bah. For real canned Texas chili, the chili that was with Houston at San Jacinto, find some Wolf Brand Chili. It had the best TV commercials when I was a kid, anyway. A mustachio’d cowboy looked straight at the camera and said, “Neighbor, how long has it been since you've had a big, thick, steaming bowl of Wolf Brand Chili? [Very short pause.] Well, that's too long.”
posted by Dees Stribling @ 11:51 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I've never heard of Texas Pete. From your description, I don't seem to have missed anything. Wolf Brand Chili, on the other hand, isn't at all bad for canned chili. The commercial was memorable, too. This is from a NTY piece on chili pie by one John Schwartz published on February 21, 2003:
rom an article in the NYT discussing chili pie and the necessity of using Wolf Brand Chili in its preparation:
"I can always tell a Texan -- not by the accent, or by the attitude, or even by whether they wear a cowboy hat or boots (oh, grow up). All I have to do is ask the question from the Wolf Brand commercial, with the proper over-excited growl-like drawl: 'Neighbor?! How long has it been since you've had a Big! Thick! Steamin' bowl o' Wolf Brand Chili?''
Texans will immediately deliver the tag line: ''Well, that's too long!'"
The Handbook of Texas Online has an entry on the origins of the brand that can be found here:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/diw1.html
Since this article went to press, Quaker Oats appears to have sold the brand to ConAgra.
Erratum: I appear to have pressed "post" rather than "preview," while working on my comment on Wolf Brand Chili. The passage reading
"rom an article in the NYT discussing chili pie and the necessity of using Wolf Brand Chili in its preparation:" appears"
should have been deleted. ANK
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