This is (and it would be hard to dispute it), the "world's largest chili," according to the owners of the Big Chile Inn, a motel on a narrow, two-lane street that was once the main road from the west into Las Cruces, the hub city of southern New Mexico, 27 miles from border with far-western Texas. [NOTE: Regarding the divergent spellings of the hot pepper: "chili" is the English-language preference and the common spelling for the pepper-and-meat stew. The Spanish "chile" is the usual spelling in New Mexico, and, of course, in the South American nation of that name.] Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2021.