The piquant aroma of peppers and spices seasoned the hallways of Building 426. Eleven slow cookers from aspiring culinary champions lined a row of tables, a few large plates of cornbread alongside. Nearby, representatives from the Research Donor Program and FNL United availed themselves for conversation.
The 19th Chili Cook-off, hosted by Occupational Health Services (OHS), closed out American Heart Month at NCI Frederick with camaraderie, a push for community, and—of course—good food.
It promotes “humanity, in the sense of gathering,” said OHS Manager Sarah Hooper, the event’s coordinator.
OHS hosts “edutainment” and community-building employee events as part of American Heart Month, a larger nationwide acknowledgment of cardiovascular health. The Chili Cook-off is a perennial crowd favorite.
Employees attend the lunch-hour, off-the-clock event to taste the chilis, vote for their favorites, and spend time with each other. They can also obtain information about cardiovascular wellness, CPR training, and volunteer opportunities.
“This is a chance for you to meet folks that do different things than what you do, make different foods than you make, and have different backgrounds,” said Mitchell Stenersen, an Environment, Health, and Safety officer.
This year, Matt Mitchell, quality assurance specialist in Facilities Maintenance and Engineering, won first place. His chicken chili, entry #9, scored 34 votes.
He has been awarded the traditional, ever-coveted prizes: a reserved parking space on the NCI Frederick campus for one month—and the culinary esteem of his peers.
Tough Choices, Good Time
As in past years, OHS assigned the chilis an anonymized number to conceal the cooks’ identities and ensure unbiased voting.
Some attendees said voting was difficult this year. The entries had voters thinking twice before making their choices—a challenge to even the most methodical.
Such was the case with Devin Abshire, a research associate in the Clinical Services Program, who brings a pen and scratchpad with him every year. Before voting, he samples each chili and rates it on a scale of one to 10.
“The chili’s all delicious. … I do enjoy determining what the best one is, the process of it,” he said.
This year, he gave every chili no less than a seven.
“It’s fun to see everyone’s takes on chili, all the different ways you can make it and all the different tastes it has,” said Ashley Miller, a research associate in the Clinical Services Program, while sampling and voting.
An Opportunity to Learn and Connect
Throughout the event, throngs of employees could be overheard laughing together. Some reconnected with former colleagues, while others met coworkers for the first time. A few discovered they’d even graduated from the same college within a year of each other.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to cross paths,” Stenersen said of the event.
Some attendees also stopped to peruse a table with information and brochures about the Research Donor Program, which is currently in “desperate need” of donors who aren’t taking medication, said Delilah Bedilion, OHS nurse.
Through the program, NCI Frederick “provides specimens for the researchers here to use in their experiments … Each donation, [donors] are compensated for,” Bedilion said.
Others stopped to ask about “FNL United,” a community-building council for Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research employees. By the end of the event, at least one person said they were considering joining.
Observing the convivial interactions, Hooper acknowledged there are always more connections to be made.
If the smiles and chatter as employees returned to work were any measure, the event filled that purpose just as much as it filled attendees’ stomachs.
