...which is not to say that there isn't plenty of fine eating where I live now. A locally produced NPR program I caught on Friday tipped me off to this heroic enterprise: an documentary investigation of barbecue culture in the Carolinas called Barbecue Is a Noun.
"If you use it as a verb, you can barbecue anything, but... barbecue is... roast pork."
Why a movie about barbecue?
Even as many parts of North and South Carolina become decidedly less rural, barbecue maintains its popularity as a meal and as a symbol of the region's agrarian tradition. Barbecue is among the politest and most enduring controversies the Carolinas have to offer. The people of North and South Carolina have no trouble agreeing that barbecue is itself great, but they rarely agree on where to go for great barbecue.
Of course, anyone who brings proper barbecue to Williamsburg is all right in my book.
The documentary begins screening this fall. If you're hungry now, the brothers Lee can help you.
