CALF_News_December_2020_January_2021

29 CALF News • December 2020 | January 2021 • www.calfnews.net GRILL H O T O F F T H E A C A L F N E W S B B Q P A R T Y A HISTORY OF BARBECUE Continued W hile the practice of barbecue was popular across the American colo- nies, it strongly took root in the South, where the immigrants from southern and western England were more accustomed to a culture of roasting and broiling meat. The practice was also particularly popular because the south- ern colonists favored pork. Pigs had been imported from the beginning of the Jamestown Colony, where they thrived. Pigs forage well with minimal care, reproduce quickly and are the most By Heidi Wiechert and Lance Geiger Contributing Editors efficient of all the domesticated animals in terms of converting feed to meat. The cash crop of tobacco requires large parcels of land, and that is also quite suitable for raising pigs. By 1860, the estimated value of the South’s pigs was nearly double the value of its cotton, although pigs, usually left to forage wild in the woods, were difficult to count accurately. And pigs are great for barbe- cue, as it is an animal that can be roasted whole and provide enough food for a large social event, which fit well with the Southern “hospitality” culture. Barbecues became common social events, and George Washington’s diary includes attendance at several. Barbecues as social events also figure prominently in Virginia newspapers from the early 18 th century on. The events were feasts that most often featured hogs roasted whole, although beef quarters might also be included. Contemporary accounts suggest they were attended by all levels of society and often included music and alcohol, which sometimes might be drunk to excess. Inevitably, the feast became part of the American political landscape, with barbeques coinciding with election day. These social gatherings became a subtle way for candidates to ply voters and display generosity without actively campaigning, considered uncouth at the time. Traditions devel- oped differently in various locations. For example, a South Car- olina tradition evolved called,“Barbecue Law,” where barbeques, attended exclusively by men, required guests match each other drink for drink or face humiliation. Not only were the cultural traditions different, but the methods were as well, with regions basting or spicing the meat with different concoctions – the begin- nings of the “barbecue cults.” According to the July 2013 edition of Smithsonian Magazine , these differences in method were influenced by the tastes of original immigrants to each region. For example, North Carolina’s “vinegar-based sauces being a remnant of Briton’s penchant for the tart sauce,” whereas the “mustard- based sauces of South Carolina repre- sent the tastes of the large population of French and German immigrants” in the colony. Continued on page 31  Other barbeque traditions developed because of the nature of the economy in the location and the products available. Thus, Texas barbeque emphasizes beef, such as slow-smoked brisket. Traditional Tennessee barbeque is exclusively pork, and tends to be sweet, a development of the river trade, which allowed easy access to molasses. Kansas City style barbecue was developed by a man from Memphis who brought the tradition of sweet, tomato-based barbecue sauce but combined it with the western availability of beef and other meat along with pork, making it an “amalgamation of east and west.” As Americans moved west, they took their regional barbecue traditions with them, and new barbeque cults arose. John James Audubon, the naturalist and famous painter of birds, wrote of a Fourth of July barbecue in Kentucky: ”All appearances conspire to predict the