Tracing the DNA of BBQ
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 me. For those 350 years, the “Hole in the Ground” or Trench survived in the heads of black farmers across the south, but I am 100% sure it was in my father’s hand and heart until the mid 1970’s. It lasted in m
Where are the Blacks in BBQ Book, Dr. Conyers? The Process, Journey, and Solution
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 really hard to write from a place of research and a place of cultural authenticity. Over a lifetime of honing the craft of being a whole animal bbq cook, which focused mainly on whole hog bbq, it has been a stru
Let’s stop saying Virginia is the home of America’s BBQ, the home is enslaved Africans
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 America’s BBQ or South Carolina too. The home to me is the people, enslaved Africans that leverage some insight from indigenous people and perfected barbecue in the South. For a specific time period well into the
