Barbecue

            Barbecue is an American culinary giant.  With its rugged appearance, and amazing complex flavor, barbecue stands out as a genuine American flavor.   Enjoyed at political, social and church events, since the time of George Washington it has been a part of our national fabric.  With such a popular dish there are many variations of it making barbecue one of the hardest foods to define.  But possibly with a look at its history, the true meaning of the word can be ascertained. 

           

 

             Barbecue is believed by most food anthropologists, to have been first consumed by the Taino people of the Caribbean.  The native peoples of the Caribbean would cook and preserve their meats, primarily fish, over a fire.  They would build cooking devices using four tall green saplings, to which a grill like surface would be attached.  A smoldering fire would be built under it and the resulting cooked food would be tender and have a smoky flavor.  This action was first observed in 1492 by Christopher Columbus.  The Taino word for the action of cooking meat that way was recorded as barbecoa. Barbecoa was first printed in the Old World by the Spanish historian, Oviedo, in a book on his travels in the Caribbean and Spanish Florida in the 16^th century.  The people of England and Spain latched onto this phrase, barbecoa, because it sounded so much like barbaric, which is what they considered these natives and their ways.  The French interpretation of barbecoa becomes buccan.  Fast forward a few hundred years and the Caribbean islands were crawling with the pigs left by Columbus, and the seas were overcome with pirates and scallywags.  The pirates would land on these islands and hunt for the wild pigs and are known to have cooked their catch on buccans.  They enjoyed this method and used it so much they became known as buccaneers. 

            Even now, there is debate about whether barbecue is a food or a food event.    In the northern part of America you go to a barbecue and eat hot dogs and hamburgers.  In the South you go to a barbecue and actually eat barbecue.  From what I can tell, in the 18^th and 19^th century, the term barbecue was used to explain both a food event and food.  I have found two quotes from George Washington on the matter.   One from 1769 states, “Went in to Alexandria to a Barbecue stayed all night.”  This was a reference suggesting barbecue as a public gathering.  Then Washington states in a letter dated 1758 to Henry Bouquet, “That we have not an ounce of Salt provisions of any kind here, and that it is impossible to preserve the fresh (meat) by any other means than barbecuing it in the Indian manner.”  These two statements lead me to believe that Washington considered barbecue both a food and an event. 

Photo By:Jacob W. Dillow

Photo By: Jacob W. Dillow

A Colonial Barbecue recreated by Michael Twitty.  For more pictures and information please go to his blog Afroculinaria.

His Blog:

http://afroculinaria.com/

The Blog for the Pictures:

http://afroculinaria.com/2012/07/14/the-colonial-roots-of-southern-barbecue-re-creating-the-birth-of-an-american-culinary-staple/ 

            The barbecoa lost its popularity in the 18^th century and was replaced with the pit.  Plantation owners would have their slaves dig deep pits over which sticks, or even metal rods, would be placed through whole hogs and roasted for hours.  One of the only recipes for this is found in Mary Randolph’s 1824 edition of, “The Virginia Housewife”.  The recipe is for “barbecue shote”.  Shote was the southern nickname for a young or suckling pig.  This would have been done for birthdays, weddings or anniversaries.  The party surrounding the event would be an all-day affair much like a scene from Gone with the Wind.  The party was a time for socializing and finding respectable husbands for woman.  Men would be busy smoking, drinking and exchanging political and philosophical opinions of the day.

            Ever more popular today, barbecue is an art form with a huge following.  It is enjoyed by many at family owned restaurants that have been around for generations.  And it is popular with a whole new generation enjoying it at food trucks and pop up restaurants.  The beauty of barbecue is that everyone can make it their own whether experimenting with sauces in their kitchen or methods in the back yard.   It is the exact example of America, in that its ruggedness and complexity provide opportunity for individual expression while being enjoyed by the masses.  Whether you think of barbecue as a dish or an event, barbecue is part of the American heritage and in the end, needs no definition to be appreciated.