Fried Green Diaspora at Oxford American: Northeast Barbeque

Barbeque seems to have hit a high point in popularity up here in Boston. Sweet Cheeks, the newest venture from Top Chef’s Tiffani Faison, was my most recent venture for Oxford American. I ate some pretty amazing pork belly and some less amazing pulled pork:

In Search of Southern Cooking in America at Large: Sweet Cheeks BBQ in Boston

When I think of barbecue, my mind first travels back to the Memorial Day block parties held in the neighborhood catty-corner to my parents’ street. It was an all-day event filled with water-gun fights, trampoline contests, and an endless red-and-white checkered table covered in potluck spoils. The pièce de résistance was, fittingly, a slow-roasted pig, tended by as many dads as could fit around the pit, each holding a beer or two. Once the pig had succumbed to the smoldering embers, the dads would painstakingly pick it apart (saving, I am sure, the best parts as cooks’ treats) and serve the meat with an array of sweet, spicy, and tangy sauces. Piled atop a generic hamburger bun and eaten with juice running down to my elbows, this dish signaled the beginning of summer and the short two months of freedom from all of my childhood responsibility….

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