The International Chili Society world championship chili cookoff took place in Las Vegas during the weekend and Carson City and Northern Nevada cooks held their own in the cookoff.
Carson City's Dr. Ed Pierczynski - aka Dr. Chili - finished in fourth place in the field of 122 cooks, who came from all over the world to compete.
"It was a good cookoff and I feel lucky to come in fourth place," said Dr. Chili, the 1992 world champion. "That was a tough field of cooks. This was my fourth time in the last nine years I've finished in the top five of this cookoff. I'm pleased with that."
Maude Swick of Bakersfield won the world championship and Reno chili cook Skip Cooley came in second. Jim Deer of Illinois was third and Carson City's Allison Dietz finished in eighth place as three Northern Nevada cooks made the top 10.
Dietz qualified for the world championship by coming in second in the semi-finals on Saturday. The top five from the semis qualified to cook in the finals on Sunday. She also won the Nevada State Salsa championship on Friday.
"This was my first time cooking at the world championship and I'm going back," said a happy Dietz on her return to Carson City. "That was awesome. I like cooking in the world. It was an honor just to cook in the world championships. The whole experience just blew me away!"
Dayton's Marilyn Allen made the final table of 31 cooks. Carson City's Bob Grayson and Mary Pierczynski and Reno's Dione Cooley also cooked and competed in the world championship.
Carson City's Julie Martin was one of the scorekeepers at the three-day event.
