Episode 7

Virginia: The Birthplace of Barbeque

On this episode, we take a deeper dive into the time-honored American tradition of Barbeque and its beginnings in Virginia by exploring the history of early pitmasters and the barbecue traditions that spread throughout the South and beyond.

In this episode, Deb talks to:

• Adrian Miller, author, barbecue scholar, and Black food historian

• Joshua Fitzwater, founder of Southern Grit magazine and barbecue aficionado

Episode highlights:

Virginia, the Birthplace of Barbecue

• Adrian introduces us to historical references to barbecue, which was initially referred to as “Virginia barbecue” in the earliest writings about the cooking practice in the US. Over time, other parts of the country have taken up the mantle with their regionalized versions of barbecue, but Adrian insists that barbecue originated in Virginia.

• Barbecue as we understand it, Adrian argues, is Native American in origin. Sources of the time do not reflect the fact that enslaved Africans were cooking that way, and at the time Southern-style barbecue was not present in other parts of what we now know as the US South, where African slavery was a prominent practice.

• Europeans introduced their domesticated animals (cows, goats, and pigs) as well as their style of cooking that is closer to what we now consider grilling, or cooking over high heat.

• Adrian hypothesizes that while enslaved Native Americans were the ones first cooking barbecue, enslaved Africans, who were the cooks on southern plantations, eventually perfected the practice.

What is Virginia-Style Barbecue?

• In the early days, barbecue was made with ox, feral hogs, and sturgeon. The animals were cooked whole over a wood-fired pit. Virginia wands, precursors to barbecue mops, were used to baste the animal with vinegar, which preserved the skin and kept it from burning, Fitz says.

• The craft, skill, and labor required for whole hog barbecue created a whole new way of cooking, and Fitz emphasizes that it needs to be more investigated in studies of barbecue and American cuisine.

Early Virginia Pitmasters

• Adrian tells the story of Charles Allen, a notable Virginian pitmaster who hosted a large barbecue in Boston. He also talks about Shackleford Pound, another celebrated pitmaster who was interviewed frequently at the time for the interesting ways he experimented with sauces.

Forefathers of Barbecue

• Both Adrian and Fitz talk about the origins of barbecue in Virginia and the role that marketing and research have played in the forgotten legacies of Virginia barbecue.

• “To really understand it, you have to follow that history,” Fitz says.

• Adrian predicts a hunger for diversity in barbecue as it continues to proliferate around the world.

• “Barbecue’s DNA is definitely connected to Virginia, but a lot of people don’t know that, so we have a lot of opportunity to educate folks,” Adrian says.

• “The more that we explore Virginia barbecue, the more we realize who the real forefathers of our barbecuing were, the people actually doing it, and that’s extremely important,” Fitz adds. “You can say that George Washington threw barbecues… but who actually made that happen?” 

Listen: Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher