The heyday of this dish in the Uk was mainly the 1970s. Before that, like so much food it would have been considered exotic and only known to a few. Once people started eating more spicy foods like chilli, they quickly took a liking to them and now a version of chili con carne (however different from its Latin American origins) is a regular favourite with many UK families and is especially popular for large parties.

The 1970s was the era for many 'foreign foods' that became widely known in the UK for the first time. Some, like spaghetti bolognese or chicken tikka, were very different from recipes in their countries of origin (in fact chicken tikka was actually developed in Britain, for a public not used to spicy foods). Writers like Delia Smith created versions of international dishes that were easy to cook and more palatable to people in the UK, though nowadays many people prefers to seek out authentic recipes and ingredients and try to reproduce the original dishes.