National Barbecue Day

The word "barbecue" likely comes from the Taíno word barbacoa a wooden frame used by Caribbean natives to smoke meat over low heat. Spanish conquistadors encountered it in the 16th century; the word entered English soon after. The technique, slow-smoking meat over hardwood, existed in West African and Caribbean cultures long before European contact.

American BBQ as a regional cuisine developed in the 17th and 18th-century American South. Enslaved Africans in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and throughout the Deep South applied their own smoking traditions, often combined with Caribbean and indigenous techniques, to the plantation's lesser cuts of meat. The resulting cooking tradition was hard labor, long patience, and transformative results. The foundational American BBQ tradition was built by Black Americans; this fact was obscured for much of the 20th century but is increasingly recognized.

The four modern American BBQ regions crystallized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shaped by local ingredients, regional preferences, and the Great Migration. Texas specialized in beef brisket (cattle country). Kansas City became a BBQ "melting pot" thanks to Black migrants from the South; its sweet molasses sauce became the national template. Memphis emphasized pork ribs with dry rubs. The Carolinas developed pulled pork with vinegar-based (Eastern) or tomato-vinegar (Western) sauces.

National Barbecue Day, May 16, has been informally observed for decades and crystallized into a widely-recognized holiday in the 2000s. Americans spend billions of dollars per year on BBQ restaurants, equipment, catering, festivals. And yet the tradition remains profoundly local. The best BBQ in America is mostly found in small joints you've never heard of, run by pitmasters whose families have been at it for three generations. Honor the lineage. Eat the meat.

Four things that separate great BBQ from burnt meat:

American barbecue in four distinct regional traditions: