09/15/2024
Didya Know?™
Barbecue originated in Haiti.
The word 'barbecue' derives from the Taíno word 'barabicu', found in the language of the Taíno people of the Caribbean, and entered European languages in the form barbacoa.
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish explorer, was the first to use the word "barbecoa" in print in Spain in 1526 in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española (2nd Edition) of the Real Academia Española. After Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, the Spaniards found native Haitians roasting animal meat over a grill consisting of a wooden framework resting on sticks and a fire made underneath so that flames and smoke would rise and envelop the animal meat, giving it a certain flavor. Strangely enough, the same framework was used as a means of protection against the wild that may attack during the middle of the night while at sleep. The barbecue not only survived in the Haitian cuisine, but was introduced to many different parts of the world and has numerous regional variations.
Thanks, Haiti!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_cuisine -colonial_cuisine
