Have you ever wondered what food is uniquely American? Maybe you’ve heard American food is terrible and you’ve struggled to think of what food is uniquely American. Well, my friends, barbecue is a uniquely American food. When the Spanish landed on the beaches of Haiti, they witnessed the Haitian people smoking fish. This is where we received the word barbecue, derived from the Haitian word barbacoa, meaning framework of sticks set upon posts. The Haitian people didn’t invent low and slow cooking, but some of their practices were used alongside the European way of smoking meat.

When the English and Spanish came to the New World, they brought with them pigs and cattle, which were not native to the Americas. Then the English began establishing colonies and found ways to incorporate this new style of cooking with their hogs and cattle. They made it their own, and barbecue as we know it today was born.

You see, what makes barbecue American is one of the aspects of what makes America, America. We are a melting pot. We are innovative. People from different parts of Europe came here adapting their spices to this new method of cooking. This is where you see the different regions pop up. English in North Carolina would use vinegar, Germans in South Carolina using mustard, in Tennessee where molasses was abundant a sweet sauce was created, and in Texas where beef is king you see brisket hit the scene. This is the history of barbecue.

Barbecue became the hub where social gatherings would happen. We have this vision for Heritage BBQ to be a place where community gathers while enjoying amazing smoked meat. We’re seeking to pay homage to the different regions of BBQ by staying true to that region’s way of doing BBQ. This is the heritage of BBQ.