 He was also a food connoisseur, wrote a history of chili con carne called "A Bowl of Red", and ran "Tolbert's" chili restaurant in Dallas.In 1967 he founded, with Wick Fowler, the World Chili Championship held annually in Terlingua, Texas, which was later named for them.He appeared in several television commercials for Dennison's canned chili during the late 1970s.