The globalization of barbecue?
Here is a neat but somewhat foggy blog post on barbecue:
The word out of the 2008 World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest,
the world’s largest pork BBQ contest held last weekend in Memphis, is
that the globalization of barbecue is in the "embryonic" stages.
Why is this foggy? Well, barbecue went global some time ago, whether it be Maori "Hangi," indigenous Mexican cooking under the ground, or North African nomads roasting a lamb. Slow cooking at low heat is the formula in each case and usually smoke plays a role too. The author notes that soon the Chinese will be in on it but has he ever had traditional Chinese short ribs? By the way, the best barbecue town in America — Lockhart, Texas — draws heavily on German techniques for smoking its meats.
The pointer is from Henry Farrell.