Captain Morgan
Chef Extraordinaire
debate is.....from the Raleigh News and Observer
Published: Feb 9, 2005
Modified: Feb 9, 2005 5:31 AM
On 'cue, it's east vs. west
By DENNIS ROGERS, Staff Writer
You see what happens when you try to be nice to people?
For the past several years, I have, in the name of regional diversity, laid off criticizing the fake barbecue served in other parts of our fine state.
Let us dine on the sublime swine as true brothers and sisters, I pleaded. Are we not partners in pork? Does not my proud vinegar-based Eastern North Carolina sauce stand shoulder to shoulder with your wimpy Lexington-style dip? Let us have a cholesterol consensus with our hush puppies and sweet iced tea.
No more, Jack.
Unsatisfied with drawing their $104-a-day walking-around money while nibbling the shrimp of lobbyists and waiting for the leadership to tell them what to do, the honorables of the General Assembly have become bored. And like restless children stuck in the house on a rainy day, they've gotten into mischief.
It started small when Sen. Tony Rand ordered the Bible and cross removed from the legislative chapel. Then Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight sent the clear signal that he, not Rand, is in charge of such matters and ordered the religious items returned. That, in politics, was an old-fashioned spanking. It's a wonder Basnight didn't make Rand go cut his own switch.
That entertainment was good for a few giggles in the opening week, but then Reps. Hugh Holliman and Jerry Dockham got completely out of hand with House Bill 21.
Warning: You might want to send the little ones out of the room for this part. The title of their bill is, "An act to adopt the Lexington Barbecue Festival as the Official Barbecue Festival of North Carolina."
I told you it was ugly. It's enough to give a true barbecue believer the greasy queasies.
As the Oracle of the Holy Grub, I am appalled but hardly surprised. People who would put ketchup in the sauce they feed to innocent children are capable of most anything.
This must not stand. Let the word go forth from this time and place that we, the Eastern North Carolina purveyors of pure barbecue, will not be roadkill for our western kin.
Arise, you Mavens of the Magnificent Meat that is only found east of the Gnat Line. Push yourself away from the table at swine shrines such as Cooper's, Wilber's, Parker's, Bill's, Mitchell's, King's, the Skylight and -- hold a hush puppy over your heart when you say the name -- B's, and make your feelings known.
Remind lawmakers that while our humble pig may not get the publicity Lexington gathers from the lying Yankee press, we still put on a pretty good show.
From the annual Mule Days cook-off each fall in Benson to the big doings at Newport (April will mark the 27th year for that fine feed) to the 21st annual N.C. Championship Barbecue Cook-off in Garner in two months, Eastern North Carolina barbecue remains the goal to which ambitious porkers aspire.
Holliman is well aware of the greasy mess he's in.
"I made a tactical error," he admitted. "What we really need is a cook-off to let legislators vote on which is the best."
Kill a pig and fire up the cookers, boys. This is war.
Bring it on, Lexington.
Dennis Rogers can be reached at 829-4750 or drogers@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Published: Feb 9, 2005
Modified: Feb 9, 2005 5:31 AM
On 'cue, it's east vs. west
By DENNIS ROGERS, Staff Writer
You see what happens when you try to be nice to people?
For the past several years, I have, in the name of regional diversity, laid off criticizing the fake barbecue served in other parts of our fine state.
Let us dine on the sublime swine as true brothers and sisters, I pleaded. Are we not partners in pork? Does not my proud vinegar-based Eastern North Carolina sauce stand shoulder to shoulder with your wimpy Lexington-style dip? Let us have a cholesterol consensus with our hush puppies and sweet iced tea.
No more, Jack.
Unsatisfied with drawing their $104-a-day walking-around money while nibbling the shrimp of lobbyists and waiting for the leadership to tell them what to do, the honorables of the General Assembly have become bored. And like restless children stuck in the house on a rainy day, they've gotten into mischief.
It started small when Sen. Tony Rand ordered the Bible and cross removed from the legislative chapel. Then Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight sent the clear signal that he, not Rand, is in charge of such matters and ordered the religious items returned. That, in politics, was an old-fashioned spanking. It's a wonder Basnight didn't make Rand go cut his own switch.
That entertainment was good for a few giggles in the opening week, but then Reps. Hugh Holliman and Jerry Dockham got completely out of hand with House Bill 21.
Warning: You might want to send the little ones out of the room for this part. The title of their bill is, "An act to adopt the Lexington Barbecue Festival as the Official Barbecue Festival of North Carolina."
I told you it was ugly. It's enough to give a true barbecue believer the greasy queasies.
As the Oracle of the Holy Grub, I am appalled but hardly surprised. People who would put ketchup in the sauce they feed to innocent children are capable of most anything.
This must not stand. Let the word go forth from this time and place that we, the Eastern North Carolina purveyors of pure barbecue, will not be roadkill for our western kin.
Arise, you Mavens of the Magnificent Meat that is only found east of the Gnat Line. Push yourself away from the table at swine shrines such as Cooper's, Wilber's, Parker's, Bill's, Mitchell's, King's, the Skylight and -- hold a hush puppy over your heart when you say the name -- B's, and make your feelings known.
Remind lawmakers that while our humble pig may not get the publicity Lexington gathers from the lying Yankee press, we still put on a pretty good show.
From the annual Mule Days cook-off each fall in Benson to the big doings at Newport (April will mark the 27th year for that fine feed) to the 21st annual N.C. Championship Barbecue Cook-off in Garner in two months, Eastern North Carolina barbecue remains the goal to which ambitious porkers aspire.
Holliman is well aware of the greasy mess he's in.
"I made a tactical error," he admitted. "What we really need is a cook-off to let legislators vote on which is the best."
Kill a pig and fire up the cookers, boys. This is war.
Bring it on, Lexington.
Dennis Rogers can be reached at 829-4750 or drogers@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
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