BBQ Ain't from Texas, It's from Taino

B Daht starts today's episode of I Didn't Know Maybe You Didn't Either by sharing 3 Useless Facts about Food, then, you ever wonder where barbecue really started? Before the smoker hit the South, the fire was lit in Haiti--and the story is smokier than you think.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, they'll know it alls. I'm Bedot, your host, and
welcome back to another episode. If I didn't know, maybe
you didn't either. This is the podcast where we uncover
the stories that got skipped in school, like your friend
that couldn't read good when it was time to read
out loud and miss Kenderley class, or stories that just
weren't spicy enough for the textbook. Now, of course we

(00:22):
all know it alls here. And why are we know
it alls? Because we want to know it all, baby,
which is exactly why we start every episode off with
three of the most useless facts you'll never need, not
a day in life. Also, make sure you're following us
on Instagram IDK myde with an underscore before it and

(00:42):
behind it. As a matter of fact, you can search
those letters anywhere. Just go to Google and put IDK
myde and catch up on all the things that you
ain't know yet. And now for your three useless facts
all about food. Up. First, lobster was always a delicacy.
First of all, I don't even like lobster. I do

(01:03):
crab legs, I do some shrimp, but lobster I just
don't dig the texture. But in the eighteen hundreds. Feeding
lobster to inmates was considered cruel and unusual punishment. Yeah,
lobsters were considered the cockroaches of the sea. And what's
crazy about that is I've always heard that shrimp were
considered the cockroaches of the sea. Go figure your second

(01:24):
useless fact. The holes and Swiss cheese are called eyes.
Do with that as you will. And your third and
final useless fact. What's your favorite cake? Some like German chocolate,
some like red velvet. Me I'm a pound cake guy.
I don't just like pounding cakes in the bedroom. I

(01:46):
don't know that my favorite pastry. But did you know
that pound cake got its name because the original recipe
called for a pound of all the ingredients A pound
of sugar, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs,
and a pound of flour. I don't make desserts and
pastries and things of that nature, but I don't think
you still use a pound of everything, do you? Those
are being three eustless facts. Lobster wasn't always a delicacy.

(02:10):
It was once fed to inmates and considered a cruel
and unusual punishment. The holes in Swiss cheese are called
oz and pound cake got his name not from clapping cheeks,
but because the original recipe called for a pound of
all the ingredients sugar, butter, eggs, and flour. And in
the theme of food to a call back to a

(02:30):
previous episode back in the Dominican Republic, when I threw
myself off my scooter twenty yards hit the brakes, tossed
myself for two first downs, left my knees and my
elbows over there in the streets of the dr You
remember the episode. If not, go check it out. But
did you know that barbecue got his start in Haiti?
Because I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. I

(02:56):
didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
Now look, I'm from North Carolina. Baby, you did what
I'm saying. So on You talking about ribs, brisket pull,
pork pit masters. You talking my language? Huh? You talking
at South Carolina, that Texas? You talking about a cookout? Well,
Uncle Tyrone over there with the orthopedic sandals on and

(03:19):
one of them aprons that say kiss the grill Master,
and he's guarding that grill like his top secret you
know the vibes. But before the grill was hot in
the South. It was blazing in the Caribbean. All right,
let me take you back to the Taino people, the
original inhabitants of what we now call Haiti and the
Dominican Republic. We did a whole episode about it, about

(03:39):
three or four episodes. Back check it out. Now, the
Taino were indigenous to the island of Hispaniola. Remember, but
this is what I didn't know. When they cooked meat,
they ain't just throw it on fire like some cave
man seen in a commercial. No, they had a method.
They built a wooden frame above hot coals, had slowly
smoked the meat over the flame. Y'all. This cooking technique

(04:01):
was called Barbara CoA. Barbara CoA does that sound familiar
to you? Because the Spanish saw it and took the name.
Then the French saw it and added that creole flare.
And when the colonass brought enslaved Africans to the Caribbean,
the technique e've allved began. See how people brought that
seasoning hunt the Marinades them rituals around food, cause you know,

(04:22):
for us, cook was always culture, community and survival. But
eventually that Barbara CoA technique made its way to the
American South, where it became barbecue. But don't get it twisted.
Barbecue is black and indigenous by design. And when we
talk about Haiti, come on, now, that's where the fire
of resistance was already burning. Haiti was the first free

(04:44):
black republic in the Western hemisphere, and they were already
cooking food, fighting for freedom and living in community when
most of the world was still trying to figure out seasonings.
So next time you had a cookout and somebody hands
you a rib or a jerk chicken, leg just no,
you holding centuries of flavor, a whole legacy of survival
and innovation that started in the Caribbean, got seasoned in Africa,

(05:08):
and got remixed in the South. And I didn't know.
Maybe you didn't either. I