The history of barbeques as well as the derivation of the word itself has been disputed and debated over the years by food historians and anthropologists. “ Before the Civil War, Blacks on the plantations of East Texas, Hispanics in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, German immigration in the Hill Country, and White subsistence farmers in the northeast corner of the state all had their own style of cooking meat. The meats were equally varied, including pork, mutton, goat, venison, squirrel, and any number of others. When the Texas cattle industry emerged after the war, beef became cheap and commonly available. Eventually it became a central part of everybody’s cooking, but that’s hardly the whole story.” writes Robb Walsh, author of Legends of Texas Barbecue. It’s customary for African Americans to barbecue on June 19th because the day denotes a historical event in Texan history. The 19th of June notably referred to as Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of slaves in Central Texas in 1865. Barbecuing is essential on this day, for it is a day of celebration, remembrance and homage to the ancestral spirits of freed slaves. Of course, today especially on the West Coast, the act of barbecuing and it’s definition has morphed into just a gathering of friends and/or family alongside a pool, an outside patio or on a balcony of an apartment building. In fact most people don’t barbecue but grill certain meats and vegetables with a gas pit. Not the traditional wood or coals used ages ago. Also, whole cows were barbecued back in the days and hundreds and hundreds of migrant workers and cotton pickers were fed. Barbecues these days can be loosely defined as an outdoor function on a hot afternoon weekend.
Most people today don’t use the term as a verb but a noun. Barbecues are held on almost every holiday especially Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and for family reunions. However, for the most of us, barbecues are an excuse to get together and celebrate or socialize.So I posed the question "What Immediatley Comes To Mind When You Think Of Barbeques" to various friends, family, and some strangers too and some interesting answers surfaced.
Here’s my answer(a sort of stream of consciousness): When I think of barbeques, I think of outside mostly parks but also people’s back yards or patios as well. Lawn chairs, grass and shade from large trees, one super mega, turbo loud boom box, a cooler set aside or stashed under the park tables with all the alcoholic drinks, a cooler atop of a red and white checkered plastic table cloth containing overly sweetened lemonade. That cheap thin white Weber’s bread, that’s real soft and bad for your thighs. I hear family members catching up and shooting the breeze. Family and friends of all ages, snooty aunts peeking over their glasses, definitely dominoes and a table for the older folks to play some kind of card game. I smell a mixture of cigarette and chronic smoke drifting from some discrete section of the park or area. An occasional squirrel darting through thick grass and up a tree. Scattered pine cones, one crazy older male relative( in my case Uncle B.H) clowning any and everybody yet making them laugh. Laughter, a variety of rap, hip hop and blues, definitely blues for my grandfather.
Male cousin’s wearing outdated and colorful short sets but also male cousins dressed like they should be in G. Q. Magazine. Yellow cake with chocolate icing, ribs, barbeque chicken, potato and macaroni salad (yuck), hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans, generic sodas, some kind of fruit salad, and sunflower seeds. Here’s some food items from the last barbecue(Feb 11th a very warm day) I attended at my cousins Suzette and Tom's pad:
Talk about mouth watering !
Definitely brain food !
Tom's famous Greek Salad
Can somebody say "regularity"?
Grilled To Perfection !
Matais was first on the scene to respond by email
I think of family, outside, parks, beautiful days (sunshine and good weather), fun, running and playing; I think of ribs, chicken, links, potato salad, white bread, hot sauce, cold soda's; I think of old folks and small children; of nodding off, dozing off to sleep somewhere in the shade because I've eaten too much lying in the grass, chilling, relaxing. I think bbq's, by definition, are an outdoors event. I can't imagine an authentic bbq indoors. it must have some outdoor element (doors open, sitting outside in the backyard, or front yard; and children must be running around playing...indoors, outdoors, somewhere basically, good food, good friends, good family and good fellowship.
did Black people invent bbq's?
Matais Pouncil, 34
long beach, ca 90804
Barbeques??? Food definitely the food. Barbeque chicken quarters (leg & thigh for me) and the potato salad is very (I stress) VERY important I don't like German potato salad or any potato salad with red potatoes. Music is extremely important ( because you have to do the electric slide a few hundred times). And it has got to be hot with enough alcohol to go around at least 3 times. My cousin use to always play the most vulgar music at our barbeques and my other cousin would dance like a stripper sticking her butt out to other picnickers in the park. Then my mother and one of my aunts would get into an argument because my mother would say someone did not feed their child enough.
that’s it girl
Terra, 29 North Hollywood, CA
I think of the wrinkled blistered skin of my hot links sitting in the sun and how long after, a salty crust of sweat cracks my still hot face as the heat takes its time rising off me like it does on the playground at dusk in the summertime.
Bill, 30's, Topanga Canyon, CA.
Beer, shorts and smoke.
Jessica, 28, LA, CA
I actually have very vivid, passionate memories of our family barbecues. They usually involved a lot less grilling than what is traditionally expected because the only thing on the grill, usually, was burgers and hotdogs, maybe a steak now and then. Growing up, barbecues and grilling seemed to be a very American thing until our folks caught on and started enjoying at least blazing up some chicken. The food that we were always climbing each other to get too was the carne asada, bistec empanizado, ropa vieja, sancocho...that stuff isn't grilled. But I remember these family gatherings that are the wondrous by-products of a good ol' picnic/barbeque. I remember meeting cousins I'd never met before, old men playing dominoes and reminiscences of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. I loved being surrounded by those storytellers and the magical nostalgia that was always a part of our gatherings.
So, I would have to say that the first that comes to mind is the people and a lot of voices, clamoring to be the first heard, the first story told, a new story on life in the US. I miss those voices, too. Most of us second generation kids, regrettably, don't make much of an effort to link up with each other and create our own traditions.
Maria, 38, Washington, DC
a back yard patio...lawn furniture and canvass chairs scattered about...the blare of R&B music alternating with smooth jazz selections emanating from a back porch speaker...mists of charcoal smoke drifting from a grill...the mouth-watering aroma of ribs being tended to by a chef sipping booze from a paper cup...bowls of potato salad and slaw chilling in the fridge...pots of spaghetti and baked beans simmering on the stove...an ice-cooler full of beer bottles and soft drinks cans...the raucous sound of male laughter...the squeal of frolicking kids...the titter of gossiping women...a lively bid-whist game in progress...a gathering of family and friends...full of fun...drunk with love...
Cynique,70's Suburbs of Chicago
what immediately comes to mind ? hmmmm, all the older people in my family bitching about the younger ones not doing their share. my punk ass cousins asking me to hold their babies for a minute but taking forever to come back to get their kid. someone being a str8 up lazy ass bringing kfc or popeyes chicken because they didn't want to cook. peach cobler, faygo, ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, and some more ribs, hot dogs, fried chicken, spaghetti, fried fish, my fat ass aunties talking about goin on diets, while they have a mouth full of food, me getting dunked on by my cousins who just got out of jail and did nothing but play bball all damn day while they were in, squirrels scaring off kids, and skittles.
Male, 29, Canton, Michigan
spicy jerk chicken, jerk ribs, ox tails, roasted vegetables, potato salad, fried plantains, rice & peas and a ice cold bottle of red stripe. mmm mmm good
Rastafurious, male, 42, Chi-town, Ill
In MS, cookouts mean chicken (fried, grilled, and baked), fried fish, baked beans, potato salad, grilled pork from various areas of the pig, grilled deer, ribs, macaroni, green beans, potato chips, cake, fresh fruit (mostly bananas, oranges, and apples)
Renata, 30, Atlanta,Georgia
Barbeques transport me back in time. It's more than the smokey air and the pungent spice of sauce. I hear dominoes slammed on a table or people laying down cards as if the cards were sacred. I become limbs running without exhaustion with my friends. We play games, invent games, or played with toys in our fabricated world.
My family loved the blues and red-light records meaning Millie Jackson, Clarence Carter and the other singers who you wouldn't hear on the radio back then. Sometimes, they'd play one of Red Fox's old vinyls also known as party records. We understood that these were dirty jokes but in what way, I couldn't tell you back then. We saw all the cousins like Cousin Sony and Cousin Henry who were always drunk as skunks and planting a sloppy kiss on the cheek with much love .When the barbeque was done, they'd call everybody to the table to pray. There was always more-than-enough-take-some-home- chil' leftovers that tasted even better the next day.
Lethia, South Central Los Angeles, 38
BBQ invokes images of being a little kid at my grandma's house.. probably because i haven't been to a BBQ since then. and images of people being nice, trying to convince me to try the meat that's being prepared. ..i think of being moody and antisocial, refusing to eat meat, and being pestered by adults to eat it.. and i remember my friend the pig that was tied to a plum tree only hours before. and how it cried when they slaughtered it...
Nee, Age. 23 Toronto,Canada
my parents' patio/backyard with the table full of gardenburger patties, meat patties, beer, and condiments for great burgers! Music playing - usualy songs my parents used to listen to in Spanish...
Smells: the charcoal and corn (on the cob!)
Sensations: nice family time. happiness.
Gehisa, 29, Long Beach, CA
Flies around the Kool-Aid. Plastic wrap over everything. And people eating egg salad. I hate egg salad. And I usually spend at least 2 minutes contemplating why someone would put stinky egg salad in their mouths on a hot day.
~Anonymous 29, Atlanta, GA.
