Chili cinnamon rolls are iconic in Midwest schools and restaurants

When Adam Snyder first moved to Yonder, Kansas from St. Louis and started working at Carriage Crossing Restaurant in 2000, quickly fell in love with the restaurant's made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls. But he wasn't prepared for what customers would do with those cinnamon rolls when beef and bean chili hit the menu in the fall.

“I was amazed when our guests started ordering the two together as a lunch,” says Schneider, now owner of Carriage Crossing. Although the pairing was confusing at first, Schneider now serves chili and cinnamon rolls together as a seasonal special from November through March. “I quickly learned that this combination is ubiquitous in this part of the country.”

Throughout the Heartland, mostly in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa, and Colorado (and, by some accounts, as far as Idaho and Washington), this pairing endured for the better part of a century. Walking around the Great Plains, you're likely to find the pair served as a pancake dinner fundraiser alternative, a seasonal restaurant special, or a cool-weather staple in many locals' homes.

Andy Cross/Denver Post/Getty Images

Where did this duo come from?

For many, the thought of school lunches does not inspire nostalgia. But generations grew up with “bowl and a roll” Fridays in elementary, middle, and high school cafeterias. For decades, cooler weather has signaled the return of the strangely satisfying combination of chili with beef and beans and cinnamon rolls, appearing on lunch trays alongside carrot and celery sticks, fruit shakes and a carton of milk.

The origin of the duo could be credited to an interest in child nutrition following the agricultural and economic devastation of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when Work Progress Management and later President Truman froze federal funding for school lunch programs in rural areas of the country. School cooks tasked with feeding classes of hungry children, many armed with experience of cooking durable meals on the farm, had to make do with what they had on hand, such as bags of dried beans and ground beef.

While “chili” can mean many things in different parts of the country, the version served on cinnamon rolls in schools essentially follows a formula established in the '40s: tomato base with ground or beef, beans, onion and spices. commonly called — Texans look away — chili con carne. This recipe can be found in several recipe collections including School lunch recipes for 100, published by the Bureau of Food and Home Economics in 1946. By 1962, chili con carne had spread far east and had caught on to its sweet companion. Marion Louise Cronan, director of a public school lunch program in Massachusetts, included a chili con carne and cinnamon roll pairing in her 1962 cafeteria recipe book. The School Lunch.

As for cinnamon rolls, farmland in Kansas and Nebraska in particular was a destination for German and German-heritage Volga settlers in the mid-1800s, as well as Swedish immigrants fleeing the famine. These immigrants turned the area into a pastry bastion and may have brought their flair for cinnamon puff pastry to school cafeterias.

Cheryl Johnson, director of Child Nutrition & Wellness for the Kansas Department of Education, says many schools across Kansas still serve bowls and rolls. “These are days when participation is increasing,” he says. “The kids look forward to this menu combination.” However, the combination had to keep up with the times. Since the Obama administration passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, cinnamon rolls have been “healthier,” Johnson says — that is, slightly smaller, made with whole grains and with less icing than the ones she used to eat. in the 60s growing up in Valley Falls, Kansas.

Ladybird Diner

Ladybird Diner

What makes it so good?

“There's nothing in the combination that doesn't work – the heat of the chili and the cool creaminess of the cinnamon roll, the textures, the spicy, the salty, the sweet,” says Meg Heriford, owner of Ladybird Diner in Lawrence, Kansas. “Stew and bread are great friends.”

Some people prefer their chili without beans. Others complement the chili with cheese. As Hereford attests, the sweetness of an iced cinnamon roll strikes an unusual but delicious balance with the saltiness of chili. The warmth and spice of cinnamon, often found in savory stews, complement the heat from the paprika, chili powder, and cayenne in the chili. (Herriford finds the soup and sweet roll combo actually quite versatile; for her own family dinners, she sometimes serves sweeter items like zucchini or cranberry-orange muffins with warm soups like butternut squash or chicken noodles.)

Nostalgia apparently also plays a big role in the duo's popularity. Herriford remembers the weekly lunch as “one of my fondest memories from high school and elementary school,” and remembers her aunts talking about their school food in Manhattan, Kansas, as early as the 1950s. When she opened Ladybird Diner in 2014, she knew she wanted to have her own seasonal bowl and roll special on Fridays from October through March, but it wasn't until her second winter in operation, 2015, that it really took off. . “I didn't know if other people felt so passionately about it, but the response has been tremendous,” he says.

Hereford is not alone in receiving the nostalgic appeal. Over the past two decades it has become increasingly easy to find a bowl and roll outside of school cafeterias and home kitchens, including at Runza restaurants, a local fast-food chain that offers the combo from October 1 through March 31 at 85 locations of. in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Iowa. Runza launched its annual chili and cinnamon roll special in 2007 when it acquired the rights to the beloved cinnamon roll recipe from Lincoln, Nebraska. Miller & Paine department store, where it is served in the fifth floor tea room. (Although the fast-food chain stopped serving the Miller & Paine version after a few years in favor of a more consistent recipe, fans can still order the original online Runza Store.)

“It's probably the strongest social media commitment Runza has made when chili and cinnamon rolls are back on our menus,” says Becky L. Perrett, director of marketing at Runza, who grew up eating bowls and rolls in Lincoln, N.Y. Nebraska. “We give all the credit to the wonderful lunch ladies at the time for coming up with the pair,” she adds. “We're just jumping on something that's unique and uses some household items that we love.”

Thanks to the chain, skeptics from far and wide were able to partake in the culinary tradition. But that doesn't mean it doesn't still trouble skeptics. Every year, when Heriford announces the return of the Ladybird special on Twitter and Instagram, comments on posts from both fans and opponents tend to get heated.

How to eat it

Even among those who agree that chili and cinnamon rolls work in concert, there is still controversy over exactly how they should be consumed. “It's a very divisive issue whether you eat them separately, like one after the other, or if you dip,” says Perrett. “That's a conversation you can have for a long time with someone.” There are even those who like the chili served over the cinnamon roll, a hardcore approach.

“I love that everyone has their own ritual — it's something we have in common but enjoy in our own unique ways,” says Heriford. “I've been known to dip, although I'm more of a substitute. But I I have to finish with a bite of cinnamon roll.'

Although Schneider thought the combination was a little out there when he first came to Kansas to work at Carriage Crossing, he gave it a shot—after all, he grew up with lunch ladies who paired chili with peanut butter sandwiches in St. Louis and his staff he thinks he's “crazy” when he has it for lunch. Since then, he's “learned to embrace the chili and cinnamon roll combo,” occasionally enjoying it himself. “I guess I'm a true Kansan now.”

More places to try bowls and rolls

Caesar's table

Caesar's Table is located in downtown Wichita, Kansas and is known for serving all kinds of American comfort food, including coconut fried catfish, fried chicken, and meatloaf. The bowl and a roll is the Friday buffet special, so you can serve up the chili and cinnamon roll as you see fit.
125 N. Market Street, Wichita, KS 67202

Tina's Cafe

If you're looking for a bowl and roll in Lincoln, Nebraska, relax at the diner counter at Tina's Cafe just west of the Irvingdale neighborhood. The chili is topped with a dollop of cheddar cheese, and the menu boasts a “huge cinnamon roll” made from scratch.
616 South Street, Lincoln, NE 68502

Casey's Bakery

In the winter, Casey's Bakery makes the most of the chilly weather with a Chili Bash every Thursday for lunch. Stop by the bakery's deli — both located in the Center Mall in downtown Sioux Center, Iowa — for all-you-can-eat chili and cinnamon rolls.
251 N Main Avenue, Sioux Center, IA 51250

Anna Archibald is a Lawrence, Kansas-based freelancer who grew up dipping cinnamon rolls and carrot sticks in chili in school cafeterias in Neodesha, Kansas.