Quote"Savage Barbecue" is either the most ridiculous book ever written about America's defining "grass-roots" food, or it is the most profound. Or perhaps it is both.

Here's the review from Salon.

Basically, the author is saying barbecues are rooted in genocidal racism with strong overtones of cannibalism.  This is what would happen if Ron Edwards was a food critic instead of a gamer.

I pretty much agree with the way the Salon writer handled it. In a way, there certainly is an argument that BBQ was an unconcious symbol for certain racist attitudes, which I don't not know if I agree, but you could make one. In the end however, it's not a prominent one of any lasting cultural or social harm, and things have since changed way beyond it.

Awesome!
 
Eating at an African American owned BBQ establishment has never been so subversive to the subconcious power structures that underpin racism!

Quote from: Malleus Arianorum;242674Eating at an African American owned BBQ establishment has never been so subversive to the subconcious power structures that underpin racism!

Not to mention the empowerment you can get from a Korean or Mongolian 'que.

Flay Bobby Flay on the white hot coals of the oppressor! Free Your Grill and Your Ass Will Follow !

Quote from: Kellri;242641Here's the review from Salon.

Basically, the author is saying barbecues are rooted in genocidal racism with strong overtones of cannibalism.  This is what would happen if Ron Edwards was a food critic instead of a gamer.

Oh for fuck's sake.

That has to be about the most ridiculous pile of bullshit I've ever seen written about food.  It reminds me of nothing so much as bad parody, like the college professor from that "Marge goes to College" episode of the Simpsons.  And that was a really, really awful episode.

The buccan was originally adopted by white criminals as a way of staying alive on whatever island rock they'd been abandoned on.  Does that mean that I'm soft on crime for eating a nice pork shoulder last weekend?

Not to mention that, as the reviewer points out before he loses his fucking nerve and caves to the usual "balance" fallacy in part 2, most of his "points" are made the fuck up with no actual point of fact.  

Fucking deconstructionism.

Man what D:

This is like saying that anyone who says Fuck you is literally threatening violence. Or that anyone who ever uses that word in reference to sex is celebrating the patriarchal culture of rape.

EDIT:

Quote"the whipping of slaves goes hand in hand," theorizes Warnes, "with the savage barbecuing of meat. Both belong to the production of a new imperial supremacy that can corrupt those it empowers."

No, wait, this is even worse than that - it's more like saying that using fuck in reference to sex is celebrating the patriarchal culture of rape because it rhymes with buck.

EDIT2: That said, this would be a great companion read to the Suicide Food blog, if only for the sheer lulz.

Quote from: Vaecrius;242766Man what D:

This is like saying that anyone who says Fuck you is literally threatening violence. Or that anyone who ever uses that word in reference to sex is celebrating the patriarchal culture of rape.   "the whipping of slaves goes hand in hand," theorizes Warnes, "with the savage barbecuing of meat. Both belong to the production of a new imperial supremacy that can corrupt those it empowers."

In fairness, you're misrepresenting that quote.  Warnes is talking about a book from 1707, and is saying that in that book "the whipping of slaves goes hand in hand, with the savage barbecuing of meat. Both belong to the production of a new imperial supremacy that can corrupt those it empowers."

Considering the rather overt racism of many writers of the 18th century, Warnes may be entirely accurate in the description.  Since I doubt any of us has read Ned Ward's "The Barbacue Feast," we shouldn't be quick to blast Warnes for his description of it.  We could end up eating crow 9which might not be so bad with a nice mustard rub...).  At any rate, he is NOT talking about modern barbecue when he makes that statement.

But yeah, the book does sound pretty silly.