Chile Trivia

The world of the “Pope of Peppers” – Dave DeWitt, is hot, spicy, and filled with wacky trivia that those who worship peppers must know. Besides quizzes, resources, and many funny and informative factoids, there are also insights into Dave’s travels and his encounters with celebrities like Martha Stewart, Paul Prudhomme, Ted Nugent, Kinky Friedman, Bobby Flay, Joe Perry, Gary Collins, Bryant Gumbel, Mark Miller, Alice Cooper, and even Zubin Mehta. There are chapters of anecdotes about the various regions all over the world where chile is used and enjoyed. The ‘Trinidad Scorpion’ and the ‘Bhut Jolokia the ghost pepper are the two hottest peppers in the world and Dave and Lois tell the amusing tales about them. People can’t get enough of hot and that is why Dave’s National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show has, for 24 years, been the greatest trade show in New Mexico. The Chilehead Resources section has a Chile Chronology from 1493 to present. The Scoville Heat Scale is shown as well as the Pungency Values of Superhot Chiles. This is the one book of chiles you need to get the facts. It is filled with laughs and sarcasm and that signature Dave DeWitt sense of curiosity and humor. Dave DeWitt has written more than 40 books on gardening, cuisine, recipes, barbecue, cooking, and chiles. He is an award-winning author and most recently tied with himself for First Place in the Cooking Category of the New Mexico Book Awards. Are you a chilehead?

The world of the “Pope of Peppers” – Dave DeWitt, is hot, spicy, and filled with wacky trivia that those who worship peppers must know. Besides quizzes, resources, and many funny and informative factoids, there are also insights into Dave’s travels and his encounters with celebrities like Martha Stewart, Paul Prudhomme, Ted Nugent, Kinky Friedman, Bobby Flay, Joe Perry, Gary Collins, Bryant Gumbel, Mark Miller, Alice Cooper, and even Zubin Mehta. There are chapters of anecdotes about the various regions all over the world where chile is used and enjoyed. The ‘Trinidad Scorpion’ and the ‘Bhut Jolokia the ghost pepper are the two hottest peppers in the world and Dave and Lois tell the amusing tales about them. People can’t get enough of hot and that is why Dave’s National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show has, for 24 years, been the greatest trade show in New Mexico. The Chilehead Resources section has a Chile Chronology from 1493 to present. The Scoville Heat Scale is shown as well as the Pungency Values of Superhot Chiles. This is the one book of chiles you need to get the facts. It is filled with laughs and sarcasm and that signature Dave DeWitt sense of curiosity and humor. Dave DeWitt has written more than 40 books on gardening, cuisine, recipes, barbecue, cooking, and chiles. He is an award-winning author and most recently tied with himself for First Place in the Cooking Category of the New Mexico Book Awards. Are you a chilehead?

Dave DeWitt is one of the foremost authorities in the world on chile peppers and spicy foods. Dave researched and wrote numerous magazine and newspaper articles on chile peppers in the late 1970s. In 1984, St. Martin’s Press published his first cookbook, The Fiery Cuisines, co-authored with Nancy Gerlach. That book is still in print more than twenty years later by Ten Speed Press. In 1987, Dave and Nancy approached a local publisher, and the three launched Chile Pepper magazine with a mere 212 subscribers. By 1995, with Dave as the editor-in-chief, the magazine had surpassed 50,000 subscribers with a total circulation exceeding 80,000. The magazine was sold in1996 and Dave launched Fiery Foods & Barbecue Business Magazine, a trade publication. The earlier Chile Pepper magazine project led to numerous books, including The Whole Chile Pepper Book (Little, Brown, 1990), which now has nearly 100,000 copies in print and recently had its tenth printing. Dave has 31 published books to his credit and continues to write books at the rate of one or two a year. He is also producer of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, the trade show for the multi-billion dollar Fiery Foods and Barbecue industries, now in its 13th year. His book The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia (William Morrow, 1999) won the award “Best Spice Book in English” at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. His latest book, again with Nancy Gerlach, is Barbecue Inferno: Cooking with Chile Peppers on the Grill (Ten Speed Press, 2001). Other notable books by Dave and his co-authors include: The Pepper Garden, Peppers of the World, Hot & Spicy & Meatless, The Healing Powers of Peppers, and The Hot Sauce Bible. In 1995, his book, A World of Curries, was nominated for a James Beard Award. Dave is coproducer, writer, and host of Heat Up Your Life!, a three-part video documentary series on chile peppers and spicy foods that will run on PBS or a cable channel. He is also publisher of the Fiery Foods & Barbecue Super Site, at www.fiery-foods.com. National TV appearances for Dave include “American Journal,” Cable News Network, “The Today Show,” “Home with Gary Collins,” “Scientific American Frontiers,” “Smart Solutions,” and “CBS Sunday Morning.” He has also been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, American Way, Smithsonian, and approximately 200 newspapers across the country.