WELCOME TO CASI!

COOKOFFS: A CHARITABLE WAY TO FIND THE CHILI OF THE DAY. For over forty years, chili cookoffs have served as a way to have fun, promote chili, and help others. Millions of dollars in proceeds from chili cookoffs have been donated to charitable organizations and used to support charitable causes. Many charities benefit from these celebrations of chili.

CASI: A WAY TO CONDUCT COOKOFFS. As cookoffs transformed from tomfoolery to semiserious competition, an organization known as CASI (an acronym derived from Chili Appreciation Society International, Inc.) evolved. CASI developed formal rules and guidelines to encourage fair and impartial judging of chili and showmanship competition.

RULES: WHY ALL THESE RULES? Promoting fair and impartial judging of chili and showmanship prompted CASI's system of rules and guidelines. These allow the best chili and show teams at cookoffs to be recognized. Cookoffs that use CASI rules are eligible for CASI sanctioning. Through the CASI sanctioning process, points for cookoff winners are recorded by CASI. Those who qualify using this system are invited to cook at the annual Terlingua International Chili Championship cookoff.

CASI MEMBERSHIP: A WAY TO SUPPORT THE CHILI WORLD. CASI is made up of chiliheads from around the world who belong to local and area organizations called "Pods". Each Pod elects a Great Pepper to represent it at the CASI Annual Great Peppers' Meeting. These Great Peppers, in turn, elect the CASI Board of Directors and Executive Director who operate the organization worldwide. All rules are approved by this group of Pod representatives. Although one does not have to be a member of CASI to participate in chili cookoffs, CASI is the major organizational body of the chili world, existing to promote chili and serve the needs of chiliheads everywhere.