This project funded by a grant from the National Pork Board

The Barbecue Oral History Project

When it comes to barbecue, change is accursed. Speed is anathema. Barbecue is stalwart. Barbecue is slow. More descriptively, barbecue, as savored in the South, is usually pork that has been smoked over a hardwood-stoked pit for hours, sometimes days at a time, before being doused with sauce and served alongside a variety of dishes like potato salad, cole slaw, and baked beans. Contrary to the contentions of our northern neighbors, barbecue is a noun, not a verb. Barbecue is the end result of a time-intensive marriage of smoke, meat, sweat and sauce. Read the words from the pit masters we have visited, and you’ll understand.

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• Memphis Barbecue
• Rural Tennessee Barbecue