Word of the Week – Barbecue

All right, ya’ll. It’s time to open up a can of etymology on the barbecue can of worms. I know some regions get VERY serious about this. 😉 So what is it? And where does it come from?

The word barbecue dates from the 1690s and is borrowed from the Haitian barbakoa, which came to us via the American Spanish barbacoa, literally meaning “framework of sticks set upon posts.” In Haitian culture, these frameworks were used for two things: to sleep on…or to cure meat.

Around 1690, English borrowed the word as the “framework for grilling meat, fish, etc.” So it first referred solely to the physical device used. However, by the 1730s, it had been adopted to refer to an “outdoor feast of roasted meat as a social entertainment.”

So first we have the grill…then we have the event. When did it come to refer to the meat made at such events? Not until 1894. Now, the real question…what kind of meat?

Well, until the 1930s, it would be large cuts of meat too big to cook indoors. But around 1931, the word began to be used for any outdoor cooking of meat, especially over an open fire; then when hamburgers gained popularity, the word began to be used for events serving those around 1935.

Barbecue sauce dates from around 1900.

And okay, dish. Where do you fall in the barbecue camp? Are you a purist, or do you use the word for any outdoor cooking?

Word Nerds Merch!