R2 Chili Chip – Going Old School

If you are from Rocky Ford, Colorado, you will know exactly what R2 Chili Chip is. If not, you’ll need to read on. When I say we’re going old school, I literally mean we are revisiting my favorite school lunch.

If it was Thursday in the R2 district, R2 Chili Chip was likely on the menu. You never wanted to be absent on a Thursday. Now the last time I had authentic R2 Chili Chip, Ronald Reagan was in his first presidential term, so the authenticity of my version may be off (and I’m counting on all Meloneers* to tell me how!) The only truly authentic version is served up by lunch ladies wearing hair nets.

I tried turning to the almighty internet for my research, and found that somebody submitted a recipe for R2 Chili Chip to a magazine, but she was denounced in the comments as a fraud because the contributor’s mother constructed it based solely on the description of her enthused school kids. Oh, and she added black olives. That seemed to be the truly unforgivable sin.

R2 Chili Chip still appears to be served in Rocky Ford at school events, meetings and fundraisers, and it is always accompanied by cinnamon rolls. This may have been the case back in the day, too, but I don’t remember.

In my memory, this dish started with a big handful of Fritos. These were topped with soupy pinto beans, and grated yellow cheese (I want to say cheddar, but that seems kind of high falutin’ for a school cafeteria). I do remember the cheese being very melty. Next, came a handful of shredded iceberg lettuce and, I think, chopped tomatoes. It’s possible that it was salsa, or maybe both. Was there chili seasoning or ground beef? I don’t know. Was it a walking taco served on a cafeteria tray? Was it Frito pie? I welcome any input from Rocky Ford friends!

Ben, when looking back to his school days of 8 months ago, fondly remembers the entire chicken patty genre (sandwiches, spicy sandwiches, wraps, salads.) I don’t know what the Millionaire policy was on ranch dressing portions, but something tells me Ben generously doused all chicken patty items with as much ranch dressing as permitted by law.

What was your favorite school lunch? When I was in college, I remember friends from Goessel, Kansas talking about bologna boats, a cafeteria specialty. Apparently, to make a bologna boat, one had to fry a slice of bologna until it curled up into a bowl shape. Then you filled the “boat” with creamed peas. Did any of you grow up with a school lunch more unusual than this? Can’t wait to hear what you ate in the good old days!