As I reflect on my upbringing on reflect on my upbringing by both of my parents, Hallie and Harrison, they gave me all that they could and I am extremely thankful.  I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth.  They prepared me for the life in the rural South and Am...

Pitcooked BBQ in the American South in the actual earth dug pit evolved for 350 years.  Pitcooked BBQ is the cooking of whole animals over a bed of coals, even though I thought bbq represented pit cooked whole hog in above ground pits by the time the tradition reached...

I know I have been keeping you waiting for an in-depth study of Southern BBQ, which focuses solely on the black narrative, which I can tell in depth from both research and experience.  This book and story have yet to be written and I recognize that fact.  The book is r...

For the past few years, I have been thinking that Virginia was the home of America’s BBQ when I start looking across southern states even though I could be bias to represent South Carolina BBQ proudly. In 2019, I have considerable doubts to Virginia as the home of Amer...

Jones Bar B Que Diner came across my radar as the oldest black owned bbq restaurant in the country, with an establishment date of 1910.  The 1910 date by itself may make it one of the oldest bbq restaurants in the United States, not simply black.   In the articles I re...

As of March 15, 2019 states, “Barbecue Hall of Fame exists not only to recognize, document and preserve the heritage of barbecue, but also to educate others by identifying and honoring its evolving history and tradition.”  As I have read this website over the past 3 ye...

Cooking on the Whitney Plantation was a struggle, given the fact the work and conditions our ancestors endured on plantations in the American South.  Ashtin Berry, of Radical Xchange asked me would I consider and I said I never cooked on a plantation for reasons mentio...

The Gumbo Jubilee Luncheon at Dooky Chase’s where a large collection of black professionals in food, from farmers to chefs to media professionals were invited from all over the country, was something I believe was needed and its convening in New Orleans was critical to...

Being titled a pitmaster, has to be earned, it is not just a business card title or won from winning a competition bbq contest!!!  Becoming a pitmaster and why I wanted to cook a whole cow in hindsight was crazy but it was important for bbq, past, present, and future i...

Gumbo Jubilee was much more than a whole cow bbq, it was clearly about doing something extremely challenging, historical, and culturally important. In addition to striving to bring the black culinary community together locally and nationally to see something out of the...