Who Are We?

Rather than a dry list of accomplishments, we decided we’d introduce ourselves with some of our own barbecue memories — first barbecues, notable barbecue events in our lives, and our evolving relationships to Texas.

Elizabeth Engelhardt, project leader: A native North Carolinian, Elizabeth discovered an interesting demographic detail while researching Central Texas food: white settlers to Texas in the mid-1800s predominantly came from (or were the children of people who came from) western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky. They brought their foodways and their pride. The barbecue may be a little different, but the roots are shared.

Marsha Abrahams: Before she moved to the South as a child, barbecuing meant Hebrew National hot dogs and hamburgers on the Fourth of July on the waterfront. Looking back on her years in North Carolina would seem incomplete without the memories of Hillsborough’s annual Hog Days or trips to Allen and Son.

Marvin Bendele: Marvin has no memories of life without some form of smoked meat being served at least weekly in his home in Devine, Texas. The annual Catholic Church Fourth of July Festival caused a week of preparation and celebration as his father helped cook for the 400 or so people who stopped by the festival for a plate of barbecue. He and the family still make sausage at home.

Gavin Benke: Gavin married a Texan and moved to Texas. For their rehearsal dinner, the local Knights of Columbus rolled up several smokers filled with beef tenderloin and mesquite woodchips. As a tribute to his home state of Maryland, the meat was served with crab soup. Many guests, particularly the East Coast ones, wandered back to the smokers, where the Knights of Columbus cheerily showed them how they smoked and seasoned the meat.

Andrew Busch: Andrew’s first foray into Texas barbecue came shortly after moving to Austin from Chicago. On a trip to Sam’s Barbecue he naively asked, “you guys got some rib tips?” The woman behind the counter replied “You from Chicago?” In Chicago people love their barbecue and its traditions; in Texas barbecue is a way of life, embedded in the everyday fabric of both its producers and consumers.

Eric Covey: Grand Junction, Colorado, where Eric was born and partly raised, was never famous for its barbecue. Later in Sacramento, he fell in love with a California version of Memphis dry-rubbed ribs and Carolina pulled pork. But when he moved to Texas, he tasted real barbecue for the first time and immediately pledged his devotion to brisket and barbecue sausage.

Dave Croke: Dave generally eats barbecue when guests come to town from the Northeast, where he grew up. If he had gotten here a few years earlier, he would probably eat barbecue everyday; but now he alternates with riding his bike past Rudy’s and enjoying the smell.

Melanie Haupt: Melanie finds that barbecue is political, and not just in the sense of presidential schmoozefests on sprawling Hill Country ranches. She had a stint during her senior year in high school as a drink girl and waitress at the Salt Lick, but she kept barbecue at arm’s length. As she worked on this project, she found that food, whether brisket or biryani, speaks volumes about a culture.

Carly Kocurek: As a native Texan with roots deep in the soil of a small town outside of Wichita Falls, Carly was afraid of turning into one of those gawking researchers that rushes in with a tape recorder and a fake accent. She has tried her best to avoid that by listening to barbecue practitioners, as closely as possible, wherever they are.

Rebecca Onion: When Rebecca first moved to Texas, it was above ninety-five degrees and she found it impossible to stay outside for longer than twenty minutes. Being a New Englander, born and raised, she worried Texas would never seem normal. But her first experience eating Texas barbecue changed her mind. Sitting on Ruby’s back patio one night, enjoying a sandwich, she relaxed into the evening heat and reveled in the smell of burning wood.

Lisa Powell: Born in Western Kentucky, Lisa has been around barbecue since before she knew the difference between “bun” and “bunny.” As a thousand miles currently separate her from her Bluegrass barbecue home with its mutton and macki-cheese, she’s found a few Texas restaurants to pitch a tent and appreciate the unexpected joy of barbecue that comes from cattle.

Remy Ramirez: Barbecue, hefty under a silky red sauce, is a smell and flavor Remy knows. It is what Uncle Ramón, her grandmother’s brother, had been making on Easter while he drank beer with her Grandpa and broke cascarones over the her head. It is the smell of her father’s hands. It is the smokehouse they always stopped at on the way to the ranch still standing today about forty miles outside Premont, Texas.

Anna K. Martin, Bradley Haugen, and Jackie Lynch also helped out with the project.

Just in case you want some formal description: most of are members of the American Studies department at The University of Texas at Austin, which means we try to understand diverse American cultures with approaches as different as urbanism, women’s studies, popular culture, sustainability, food studies, masculinity studies, critical race theory, regional history, technology, ethnography, and literature. One team member, Remy, received her MFA in creative writing, and another, Melanie, comes to us from the English department. Find more about us at the AMS web page.