Posted: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 08:25 PM - 15,161 Readers

By: Austin360.com

Austin Chronicle presents:
If You Wanna Beat the Heat this Summer Then You Gotta Eat the Heat – Join the Austin Chronicle and the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas for One of the Largest Hot Sauce Festivals in the World.

In the twenty-one years since its inception, what started as a friendly contest between Austin and San Antonio has become one of the largest annual contests in the world, the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival. FREE to the public (with a donation of three healthy, non-perishable food items or a cash donation to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas), the event draws upwards of 15,000 spectators and more than 350 entries every year. This year the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival will take place on Sunday, August 28 at Waterloo Park from 11:00am to 5:30pm.

The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival is presented in conjunction with the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB). Three healthy, non-perishable food donations or a cash donation for CAFB are requested. Purchase raffle tickets at the festival to be included in the drawing for this year's Sizzling Summer Raffle prize packages (up to 5 packages available valued at more than $500 each). There's no limit – purchase as many as you'd like! $1 each or 6 for $5. Every $1 raffle ticket purchased allows the Food Bank to provide $5 worth of nutritious food to Central Texas families.

Last year's Hot Sauce Festival raised almost $17,000 and over 23,500 pounds of food for Central Texans in need. We challenge attendees to help us raise even more food and funds this year to meet the growing need for food assistance in our community! This one-of-a-kind event has become one of Central Texas' biggest and best known parties. This year's Hot Sauce Festival promises to be even bigger and hotter than ever before.

The hot sauce contest has three levels of competition: individuals (homemade), restaurants, and commercial bottlers. This gives us a good chance to recognize salsas in a class by themselves. It also gives us a chance to consider salsas made fresh daily in restaurants apart from those made for grocery store shelves. The 2011 featured Hot Sauce Festival judges are some of the finest chefs in Texas!

Food vendors will provide a wide array of foods – this year Aster's Ethiopian Restaurant, Buffalo Billiards, Curra's Grill, Matt's Famous El Rancho, Santa Rita Tex Mex Cantina, Sun Garden Shaved Ice and Torchy's Tacos will be on-hand serving up their specialty dishes!

The 21st Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival is presented in conjunction with the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and sponsored in part by H-E-B, Ziegenbock, Silicon Labs, Planet K, 93.3 KGSR, Champion Scion, The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Austin, Car2Go, Sustainable Waves, Texas Rain and Time Warner Cable.

*  Story Contributed by: Austin360.com