Book savors ‘barbeculture’

When it comes to the study of humankind, Texas-based anthropologist James R. Veteto gets right down to the meat of the matter.

And by meat, we’re talking smoked ribs, pulled pork and sliced beef. And all the accompanying nuances - spicy sauces, baked beans, creamy potato salads, tangy slaws.

Veteto, along with Edward M. Maclin, edited and contributed to The Slaw and the Slow Cooked: Culture and Barbecue in the Mid-South, a 232-page paperback published by Vanderbilt University Press in January 2012.

Veteto, who holds a doctorate, carries a hefty title in the department of anthropology at the University of North Texas - assistant professor, director of the Laboratory of Environmental Anthropology and director of Southern Seed Legacy. He’s also executive director of the Appalachian Institute for Mountain Studies, president of the Culture and Agriculture Section of the American Anthropological Association and a research associate with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

A search on Amazon.com reveals another book credited to Veteto, Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia: Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillages (Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology), published in early 2013.

So how did the environmental anthropologist, who’s focused on documenting and conserving heirloom vegetable and fruit varieties throughout the South and promoting sustainable livelihoods, come to write about finger-lickin’ racks of ribs, savory sauces and the like?

Simply put, he loves barbecue.

And he’s certainly not alone. Here in the mid-South, folks are serious about their barbecue. It is a culture within a culture.

Take, for example, the grand opening of the Clinton Presidential Center back in November 2004. When the A-list crowd came from around the nation to Arkansas to join in the celebration, barbecue was a food of choice.

When former President Bill Clinton and his entourage arrived in Little Rock late one evening a couple of days earlier, they wanted barbecue, but Whole Hog Cafe had already closed. Luckily, they called the restaurant in time to at least snag the day’s leftovers - 2 ½ slabs of ribs, pork, chicken, potato salad and cole slaw. A day or so later, legendary singer Barbra Streisand hosted a late luncheon for 15 on her Boeing 757 at Central Flying Service.Streisand’s menu? Ribs, pulled pork, chicken, beans, potato salad, slaw and rolls.

So it was only fitting that before Veteto gave a March 14 noon presentation on his book on barbecue at the Clinton School’s Distinguished Lectures series, he was fed an early lunch catered by Whole Hog in North Little Rock.

“As do many, I come by my love of Mid-South barbecue somewhat honestly,” Veteto says, recalling a childhood of summers spent eating smoked pork at family gatherings at his father’s childhood home in Lexington, Tenn., and his mother’s hometown of Hot Springs where, in addition to cutting his teeth on his grandpa’s smoked ribs and homemade barbecue sauce, he also frequented McClard’s Bar-B-Q.

He recalled his barbecue-tinged youth of summers spent on road trips with his family during which his dad often left the main highways and interstates to venture the paths less traveled, seeking out hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints.

“We ate at a lot of colorful places and had a lot of great barbecue, in addition to a lot of bad barbecue,” Veteto says of his memories of smoke-filled, dimly lighted shacks filled with interesting characters. “It was a really hit-or-miss affair but the waitresses were always friendly and the tea was always sweet.”

His parents, Jeanne and Benny Veteto, who retired to Hot Springs several years ago and attended their son’s recent lecture, smile and nod in agreement.

“It was really a series of happenstance events that led to the book project,” Veteto says, explaining that the idea grew from a round-table discussion on west Tennessee barbecue at the Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting in Memphis back in 2008.

Veteto recalls that he and Maclin had attended the previous meeting in Tampa and enjoyed a round-table lunch discussion on the cultural history of the Cuban sandwich: “When we heard that this meeting was going to be in Memphis, our minds turned immediately to one thing: anthropologists from around the world can’t visit Memphis without being properly introduced to the city’s vibrant ‘barbeculture’ through the medium of smoky pork ribs, pulled pork sandwiches with slaw on top, fiery tomato-based sauce, and wide assortment of sides.”

The pair prepared somewhat off-the-cuff presentations on the history of west Tennessee barbecue and its role in the civil rights movement.

“Everyone had a good time and visitors from various world regions expressed their appreciation and new-found love and loyalty toward Memphis barbecue,” Veteto says.

Within the next year Vanderbilt University Press asked the two to write a book; the result was a collaborative edited volume with chapters written by several food writers, including John T. Edge, who wrote on Jones Bar-B-Q in Marianna.

“Our intent was to create a book that was both academically rigorous and accessible to popular audiences,” Veteto says. The book, designed to appeal not just to food lovers but also to anthropologists and sociologists, attempts to reach past taste buds and offer a deeper understanding of the cultural culinary experience known as barbecue.

So how does Veteto rate the offerings in Texas and North Carolina compared to that of the Mid-South?

“I actually don’t like Texas or North Carolina barbecue much … as I grew up eating barbecue in Arkansas and Tennessee,” he says. “The barbecue in North Carolina is very vinegary and generally smoked, minced pig while barbecue in Texas is generally smoked beef brisket with a sweet tomato sauce.”

Style, Pages 29 on 03/25/2014

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