Brian Baumgartner, aka Kevin from 'The Office', spills real-life love for chili in cookbook

Remember "the chili guy" from "The Office"? The scene in which Kevin Malone, played by Brian Baumgartner, spills a massive vat of chili all over the office floor is iconic and has become a meme known to and used by the masses. 

Now, Baumgartner is capitalizing on his chili-spill fame with a cookbook dedicated to the crowd-pleasing stew, out now.

In his "Seriously Good Chili Cookbook: 177 of the Best Recipes in the World Recipes," Baumgartner shares recipes from winners of chili cook offs, chefs and restaurant owners in 10 categories based on ingredients, inspiration and more.

While Baumgartner is now leaning into his "chili guy" identity, it wasn't something he expected to be known for.

"I never thought 10 years ago or whatever, when we were filming this, that I would still be talking about chili or that I would even have ever made chili," Baumgartner says of the scene which was filmed in one take in April 2009. 

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Then he tried his hand at making the dish before hosting a football watch party.

"I found some recipe and made it and then you know what they say, like, 'pic or it didn't happen?' I thought, 'Oh, this is kind of funny,' " he says. And when he posted the photo on socials, people went wild, he says.

After that, his interest in chili grew. Baumgartner started making it more regularly.

His favorite thing about chili? That it's a communal food, he says.

"You don't make chili by yourself.... well, it's too much," he says. "You're not going to spend the time to do that but with friends, with family... large gathering together — often cooking it with other people or or adding stuff to with other people — I love that aspect of it."

He started exploring chili more and playing with the original chili recipe he tried. Eventually, he wound up attending the World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

From there, he got even more into it, inspired by the sense of community chili instills — and partnered with the International Chili Society to create his cookbook.

In addition to the recipes, the book incorporates a bit of narrative from Baumgartner including some references to "The Office" and some chili history, too. 

And, if you were wondering, Baumgartner has never used that meme — but he has received "thousands" of messages containing it and has opted to not respond to any of them.

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