Texas BBQ

About this book

To Texans barbecue is elemental. Succulent savory perfumed with smoke and spice it transcends the term "comfort food." Its downright heavenly and its also a staff of Texas life. Like a dust storm or a downpour barbecue is a force of Texas nature a stalwart tie to the states cultural and culinary history. Though the word is often shortened to "BBQ " the tradition of barbecue stands Texas-tall. Photographer Wyatt McSpadden has spent some twenty years documenting barbecuespecifically the authentic family-owned cafes that are small-town mainstays. Traveling tens of thousands of miles McSpadden has crisscrossed the state to visit scores of barbecue purveyors from fabled sites like Kreuzs in Lockhart to remote spots like the Lazy H Smokehouse in Kirbyville. Color or black-and-white wide angle or close up his pictures convey the tradition and charm of barbecue. They allow the viewer to experience each place through all five senses. The shots of cooking meat and spiraling smoke make taste and smell almost tangible. McSpadden also captures the shabby appeal of the joints themselves from huge concrete-floored dining halls to tiny un-air-conditioned shacks. Most of all McSpadden conveys the primal physicality of barbecuethe heat of fire the heft of meat the slickness of juicesand also records ubiquitous touches such as ancient scarred carving blocks torn screen doors and peeling linoleum and toothpicks in a recycled pepper sauce jar.