Fish

“What is barbecue?” It’s a question I ask every incoming class at Barbecue University. The answers vary, of course, depending on where you come from. A Texan would respond “brisket”; a North Carolinian, “pulled pork”; and if you are from Kansas City, you’d say “spareribs.” In other words, some sort of grilled or smoked meat. So you may be surprised to learn that one of the first recorded barbecue recipes—found in a third century Greek foodie manifesto called the Deipnosophistae (Dinner Table Philosophers)—featured fish, or more precisely bonito wrapped in grape leaves and grilled in the embers. As it turns out, on much of Planet Barbecue, the “meat” of choice for grilling comes from the sea.