One pound of velveeta cheese + one can of rotel = cheese dip. I have come to realize that all of you don't know or aren't familiar with rotel!!
This morning on our local early show, Nick Rogers was a guest. He was promoting the first ever World Championship Cheese Dip Festival! Yum, Yum!
Is Arkansas the birthplace of cheese dip? Little Rock lawyer and filmmaker Nick Rogers has done his research and believes it to be.
“My cheese dip curiosity began a few years ago in St. Louis. I was eating at a Mexican restaurant with a table full of new law school friends, and I ordered a cheese dip. Not one person at the table knew what that was. They laughed and ridiculed, and when it arrived, a couple people even refused to try it,” Rogers said.
“Of course I hooked everyone on the stuff eventually, but the shock of my friends’ initial ignorance intrigued me. At the time, I had no idea that cheese dip may have started in Arkansas. I just knew it was important to us as a state, and I was curious as to why.”
All of Rogers’ work resulted in a documentary entitled In Queso Fever, originally highlighted in the September 2009 issue of Oxford American magazine. He tracked the background of the spicy concoction to see if it could be “the dish” for which Arkansas could be famous. Rogers discovered the original Mexico Chiquito restaurant, though it was named Little Mexico at the time, opened in Hot Springs in 1935 and introduced cheese dip. This predates Rotel by at least 10 years. Mexico Chiquito is still alive and kicking in Arkansas with both full-service and drive-through locations.
In addition to the documentary, another outshoot of Rogers’ investigation is the inaugural World Cheese Dip Championship October 9 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The competition features some of the state’s best-known restaurants and caterers who will go toe-to-toe with some of Central Arkansas’s most popular eateries.
Participants vie in the professional or amateur category for the titles of World Professional and Amateur Cheese Dip Champions."
Pack your chips and come to Little Rock this Saturday.....this could be very interesting...and maybe a little fattening!!
Nanny
10 comments:
That makes me sooo want some dip
I have had lots with salsa and velveta...but not Rotel
I love Rotel in some soups so there ya go
I will try it soon (o:
Oh --I wish I could come!!!! I love Arkansas!!!!!
Your cheese dip sounds wonderful... I've made it before and the only problem I have is that I eat TOO much of it.... ha
Hugs,
Betsy
Your cheese dip looks good, Nanny, but you are right that I never heard of Rotel!
Oh, that sounds like so much fun and so much good taste-testing!! Enjoy. We'll be looking forward to hearing the results!
i love this stuff, but hubby doesn't i guess that's good so it's not in my home for temptation. rose
Interesting post and sounds like a fun event! Rotel is a favorite ingredient of mine! There's really nothing quite like it for adding a nice burst of spice and heat. In fact, it's in the spaghetti sauce recipe on my blog, right now. And I just love this dip, it's fab!
I had no idea that Arkansas can stake it's claim to championship cheese dip. Cheers to you guys! Cheese dip, I eat like candy. My chips never seem to stop dipping. Your recipe is a great one.
YOU introduced me to Rotel a last year! I now always keep some in the pantry. It was in a lovely soup and we enjoy it so much! This dip would disappear in seconds at our house. Maybe we need to have it with our football game today!
Thanks for your congrats, Nanny! We are thrilled!
mmm this is one of my FAVORITES! so cheesy (har har har) but so good.
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