Regional Barbecue

The magic of American barbecue is that the word means something very different depending on where you live. In fact, the fun of eating barbecue is somewhat inversely proportional to the size of the region who claim the dish: the perfect barbecue would be regional to a specific neighborhood, or maybe just a specific home.

The good news is that in Future Year 2026 you can enjoy all sorts of regional barbecue outside of its region of origin. I have had excellent down east Carolina barbecue in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Pittsburgh, PA. In fact, we can now compare and contrast while we eat. It is possible to eat barbecue without discussing the terroir of the dish at hand and its relative merits, but like eating it without sauce you are missing out on part of the experience.

(To be absolutely clear, the above notwithstanding I am not a barbecue relativist, I enjoy and encourage exploration but eastern North Carolina barbecue is clearly the best.)