There’s been some big food and drink news on the campaign trail of late, from Paul Ryan’s catfish-noodling hobby to President Obama’s home-brewed “White House Honey Ale.” They got me wondering if barbecue had ever taken center stage in a presidential campaign. (Well, since this one.) Barbecues as a social event/fundraiser have a deep tradition in U.S. […]
The Lowdown on Barbecue Down Under
I first heard of Australian barbecue in the 1980s, when actor Paul Hogan (of Crocodile Dundee fame) promised me through the TV that he’d “Put an extra shrimp on the barbie” for me, if only I visited the Land Down Under. I figured out that Hogan was talking about a grill and not the iconic doll, but […]
Going Whole…Cow (or Pig, or Lamb) at an Argentine Asado
When I visited Argentina several years ago, I discovered a nation wholly devoted—in more ways than one—to their barbecue tradition, known as asado. In his book Planet Barbecue, Steve Raichlen definesasado as “gaucho (cowboy)-style barbecue, made by roasting whole lambs, pigs, and sections of beef ribs in front of a campfire. This is generally done at the estancias (ranches) of the […]
Come Together Right Now over Barbecue
South Africa: Where Barbecue Brings People Together The 2010 Lonely Planet: Africa travel guide states, “Perhaps more than anything else, it’s the braai* (barbecue) – an Afrikaner institution that has broken across race lines – that defines South African cuisine.” This is an amazing development, given that South Africa’s barbecue tradition long emphasized racial difference. Laurens van der Post wrote […]