BBQ Joints:
Stories and Secret Recipes
from the Barbeque Belt

On Display:  16 September - 26 November 2010

Charles W. Capps, Jr. Archives & Museum Building, main gallery

How exactly do you spell BBQ?

Barbecue.  Its taste, textures and smells pull at a Southerner’s heart strings like nothing else.  Its various forms bring about as much debate as national elections - Dry vs. Wet, Pulled vs. Shaved, and on and on.  

Throughout his research and subsequent published work, David Gelin set out to capture the essence of a time-honored and passed down tradition of creating southern barbecue. Barbecue is unpretentious, but at the same time held in high regard.  Family recipes are highly guarded secrets while the fare itself is openly offered.  

It has been called the South’s ‘most democratic food’ being cooked, served and eaten by all classes of people.  From political stumps to church yard gatherings, barbecue has held a central role in many of the South’s grandest traditions.

Delta State University Archives & Museum will present the exhibit, BBQ Joints: Stories & Secret Recipes from the Barbeque Belt from 16 September through 26 November.  Throughout the exhibit, the art of southern hospitality, of extending kindness with the passing of a plate of barbecue, is as entwined in this story as the smoke in the flavor of the barbecue.  

The experts agree that Gelin’s work focuses on the essence of barbecue and its place in Southern culture.  

“…a consensus of excellence is not this author’s intent.  He aims instead for a family portrait of Southern barbecue, and he delivers as much.” -John T. Edge, Author of Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South

“With so many ways to spell it, inconsistency just comes with the territory,” states Gelin explaining that whether you start with smoky logs in a cast-iron cooker or a pit in the ground, whether it is doused with a sweet or savory sauce or dusted with a dry rub, the choice for determining ‘good barbecue’ is strictly subjective.  Through his book and in the exhibition of the same title, BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes from the Barbeque Belt, you are invited to take a look around the South at some of his chosen stops, evaluate for yourself and consider your history with the ‘cue.  

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Opening Reception & Lecture by David Gelin:

16 September @ 5:30 pm - Lucy Somerville Howorth Seminar Room, Capps Archives & Museum building.  A selection of BBQ will compliment the lecture presentation. This event is free and open to the public. 

Lunch & Learn with Amy Evans Streeter

5 October - Lucy Somerville Howorth Seminar Room, Capps Archives & Museum building

A selection of BBQ will compliment the lecture presentation. 

Movie Night!  Fried Green Tomatoes

6 October @ 7pm - Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center

The Politics of BBQ:
Lecture presentation by Charles Westmoreland
13 October @ Noon - Lucy Somerville Howorth Seminar Room, Capps Archives & Museum building