Important Note: This platform does not allow year-only entries. Because of this I had to use Jan 1st as a placeholder when dealing with data for which only the year is available. Jan 1st in these entries does NOT reflect the actual date on which these events happened, and you should only pay attention to the year given.
Ponce de Leon was the first "official" Spanish explorer to set foot in the mainland U.S. In April of 1513 he landed near present-day St. Augustine and named the land "La Florida" or "land of flowers." the accompanying picture is not of his meeting with Floirda natives, who were in fact quite hostile to his presence. Instead it is a depiction of the Taino chief, Agüeybaná, greeting Ponce de Leon on what is now Puerto Rico. Soon after their 1508 encounter, Leon and his compatriot, Christopher Columbus, participated in friendship-building rituals with the Taino so as to earn their trust. Thus it was quite unexpected when they suddenly betrayed and murdered hundreds of the natives. Those who survived were enslaved and forced to mine gold and build Spanish forts.
Thirteen years after Ponce de Leon made his first steps into Florida, the Spanish historian Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo is the first to use the word "barbacoa" in print. It is a corruption of the Taino word used to refer to a structure upon which meat could be either slow-roasted or smoked. It is important to note that the idea of cooking meat slowly over a fire was not a new concept, but the structure used by the Taino was new, and was the defining feature of the new word. (Di Santo, 2016)
French explorers Jean Ribailt and René Goulaine de Laudonnière launched several expeditions to establish Huguenot colonies, including one in northeast Florida, (near present-day Jacksonville), called Fort Caroline.* Among the explorers was a French artist, Jacques le Moyne who illustrated his encounters with the native Timucua, including several depictions of meat smoking techniques. Unfortunately, all but one of his original paintings have been lost, though replications survive (see Theodor de Bry). His narratives describe a method of smoking meat specifically for the purpose of preservation.
English politician Sir Walter Raleigh commissioned the expeditions which established the doomed colony of Roanoke in present-day North Carolina.* Among the settlers was artist and cartographer John White, who created a number of watercolor images depicting the life and culture of the native people, (mostly Algonquin-speaking tribes such as the Roanoac, and Croatoan). Fellow colonist Thomas Hariot later paired these with his own narrative – including detailed accounts of indigenous cooking and preservation methods – and published them in a report about the colony’s progress entitled A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.** (Reed, 2007; Di Santo, 2016).
By the late 16th century Europeans were anxious to read the adventures and accounts of early explorers. To meet this growing need, engraver/editor Theodor de Bry* published several collections of New World illustrations and narratives, including those of Hariot, White, and le Moyne. Unfortunately, de Bry took many artistic liberties with the graphic and narrative accounts, including redrawing White’s watercolors to include (suspiciously Europeanized) Amerindians. Regardless, his publications provide a look at one of the earliest exposures of Europeans to the concept of using a wooden, grill-like structure to smoke or slow-roast meat. Interestingly, White, Hariot, and de Bry all describe the process depicted in these pictures as either "broiling," or “smoking” rather than barbecuing. This is likely because "barbecue" did not enter the English (or French) language until nearly a century later. Broiling and smoking were simply the next closest descriptors available. In addition, a regional distinction can be made between the accounts as to the function of cooking meat in this fashion. In the English accounts the natives (Roanoke or Croatoan) immediately consume their cooked meat, whereas the Timuca, who lived in a much warmer climate, cured it for later use. (Reed, 2007; Di Santo, 2016)
The first use of the term barbecue in English reflected a slight change in meaning, and a certain implication of savagery at that time associated with Native Americans. In 1661, one Edmund Hickeringill employed term in a crude poem that painted Native Americans as cannibals who “Barbecu’d and eat” their slaves. By 1690 the word was sufficiently well known enough in England to be employed in a famous play depicting Bacon’s rebellion (aptly titled The Widdow Ranter or, The History of Bacon in Virginia) in which a character exclaims “Let’s barbicu this fat Rogue!” (Di Santo, 2016) So by the time of the words inception into the English language, it had ceased to refer to a wooden structure on which meat was cooked, and began to refer to the cooking process itself. Further, it had attained a connotation of savagery, brutality, and cannibalism.
By the end of the 17th century the word was sufficiently well known enough in England to be employed in a famous play depicting Bacon’s rebellion (aptly titled The Widdow Ranter or, The History of Bacon in Virginia) in which a character exclaims “Let’s barbicu this fat Rogue!” (Di Santo, 2016). So by the time of the words inception into the English language, it had ceased to refer to a wooden structure on which meat was cooked, and began to refer to the cooking process itself. Further, it had attained a connotation of savagery, brutality, and cannibalism.
The regional distinctions apparent in de Bry's collections emerge also in early 18th century accounts. In Virginia, the historian Robert Beverley relates the roasting process of "Broyling" or "Barbacuing" meat on raised sticks of the Powhatan. In contrast, North Carolina surveyor John Lawson describes tough, jerky-like, "barbakued" meat, either roasted or cured, for the purpose of preservation among the Waxhaw. This being the earliest gendered account we have of barbecuing practices, it is notable that Lawson describes a "She-Cook," whose sole purpose is to prepare "Barbakues." (Di Santo, 2016).
Meanwhile, French accounts of Natchez (natives in today's southwest Mississippi) described their cooking practices, which included curing meat by smoking the meats on a wooden structure, which they called "boucan." This create a jerky-like substance similar to the one described by Lawson (NC), indicating the purpose of the method was for preservation.* Again, women we described in this account as the sole actors in retrieving, preparing, and cooking the live game used in barbecuing. (Di Santo, 2016).
In the decades leading up to the American Revolution the Virginia planter grew extremely wealthy off of the mass production of their staple cash crop tobacco. Thus, in an indulgent display of excess, and in response to the emerging concept of southern hospitality as a unifying aspect of American life, Virginian planters frequently threw lavish parties for their friends and families. These often included barbecuing all kinds of meat, including chicken, turkey, venison, and, especially common in Virginia, pork. No sauces were used, as only salt, butter, and water were utilized for basting. These gatherings also included dancing, singing, fiddling, games, and copious amounts of drinking. They almost always took place in summer or early fall (in a shady area, or a near running stream), and of course, the slaves did all the work. By the late 1700s the term barbecue had acquired many of its present-day connotations as an outdoor grilling and social function. (Di Santo, 2016).
Englishman visiting Virginia. pg. 44. Just two years before the signing of the declaration of independence.
From Virginia, writing to Anna Cradock of England. Only a year after the end of the revolution. pg 47. Describes the method of cooking and pit digging (48). and the use of hardwood bark. Time-consuming (slaves did it)
Barbecue eventually moved further west, to the frontier, where it lost its elitist connotations and became a marker of (relatively) democratic socialization. On the frontier there were few rich planters to fund extravagant parties, so each member of the community would instead bring a dish or a meat to the common meeting space (such as the town hall or church), and the more affluent furnished the labor (still performed primarily by slaves).
In the years following the Revolution, the burgeoning nation lacked a certain unity among its diverse population, who came from many different religious, national, and ethnic backgrounds. Americans needed shared experiences and communal barbecues became rather convenient occasions with which to create this imagined unity through the celebration of national heroes (such as George Washington) and the retelling of war-time stories. Thus barbecues became associated with American patriotism and identity, becoming a common feature during 4th of July celebrations. These early 19th century barbecues were characterized by patriotic speeches, toasts, prayers, marches, readings of the Declaration of Independence, and the singing of politically charged songs such as Yankee Doodle Dandy (see the "learn more" linked below)
It was not too long before wily politicians began using barbecues as opportunities to reach conveniently assembled voters (and to turn patriotic speeches into political fodder). Southern "hospitality" soon turned to tacit vote-buying as would-be office holders began to sponsor their own barbecues (and furnish enormous amounts of liquor for the attendees). One distincitve feature of these events was the "stump speech," in which the candidate would stand on the stump of a tree to deliver their speech to standers-by. Though colonial barbecues tended to be more refined, the blatent pandering really manifested itself on the frontier. For example, one Davy Crockett of Tennessee recalls flounding in his very first attempt at a stump speech in 1821. Apparently the assembled were quite bored with his droning on and on about politics. It wasn't until he decided to entertain his audience with "good humoured stories," and, more importantly, copious amounts of liquor, that they became more engaged. Not coincidentally, Crockett won the following election by a landslide. (Di Santo, 2016).
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