the problem with worrying about “authenticity” in regional/ethnic cuisine is that a lot of dishes considered “traditional” are not that old. Tomatoes are a New World vegetable, yet they have a strong association with Italian cuisine.
My wife grew up in a Polish family and still loves pierogi, while I find it bland and usually have to slather mustard on it. I do like a flavorful bigos, however.
“Barbecue is not Southern” is an odd perspective only to a Southerner.
Look, a Chicagoan will argue endlessly over whether to put ketchup on a hot dog, but you will not hear a Chicagoan say that hot dogs are exclusively a Chicago thing. It simply isn’t true. And barbecue is a universal, even global phenomenon. Boiling hominy grits is not. Therefore, grits is considered a Southern dish, while barbecue is universal. Case closed.
???
Just FYI, I have never lived in the South.
I don’t like large pigs with apples in their mouths. I don’t care where it’s from. It’s just a bit much.
Nor have I.
Jello Salad is a perfect example.
I’ve never had anything resembling Southern US barbecue anywhere outside the US in the world. Sure, great grilled meats; fantastic pig and oxen roasts, tasty smoked sausages, but not barbecue. By “barbecue” I am talking a cooking method that involves slow cooking, often with indirect heat, at temperatures ranging from about 200-300F, using wood to impart a distinct smoky flavor to it. It’s a type of hot smoking, but a bit hotter than that. It’s not spit roasting. It’s not grilling. It’s not cold smoking. Most of the types of “BBQ” you are talking about is what I would call grilling. Korean barbecue is not barbecue in the sense being talked about here. Plus you can go further into how traditional Southern barbecue is served, the specific types of meats, what with the sauces (or not), side dishes, etc.
FWIW, Chicago-style Hot Dogs (will all the stuff on them) ARE a Chicago thing. They even advertise that. Same thing with their pizza (or NY style pizza).
Southern style barbecue IS a Southern thing. To say otherwise is incredibly strange. And it’s as much Southern cuisine as fried chicken is. FWIW, many cultures have a fried chicken dish as well… does that make Southern fried chicken not Southern?
Then SAY Southern Style Barbecue. NOT just Barbecue. Then we agree on terms.
If you just say hot dog, I will picture a wiener in a bun. If you say Chicago style hot dog, I will picture a hot dog with all the trimmings.
Geez, broaden your perceptions, people!
I was gonna say, what’s more Southern than fried chicken? But fried chicken is all over the world. Chicken fried steak or chicken fried chicken? That’s basically schnitzel. Grits? Polenta. (OK, hominy grits are slightly different.) Biscuits? A riff on scones. Pimento cheese? Not too different from various paprika cheese spreads in Central Europe (liptauer or obatzda). I’d argue that Southern barbecue is more distinct than these typical southern dishes. Pecan pie? OK, you got me there. That’s pretty distinctly Southern. American-style pies in general, too.
The context of the conversation here should make it clear that we’re talking Southern style barbecue. I, though, as a Yankee do use “barbecue” just to mean Southern style barbecue, because that’s what real barbecue is. 
More seriously, though, there is a distinction in the American English lexicon between grilling and barbecuing, but it’s muddied. If someone, though, says a place has “good barbecue” it means exactly one thing to me: that slow-cooked, smoked style of cooking (and more specifically may even indicate pulled or chopped pork). Same if someone invites me over “for barbecue.” Now, if someone invited me over “for a barbecue,” that can be a simple cookout/grilling thing. Or if someone recommends a “great barbecue joint,” I’m not expecting a place that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks–items that are/can be grilled over a live fire. I’m expecting pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and possibly hot links cooked in the manner described above.
The last is true, of course. Same thing for the role of potatoes in various European cuisines.
But… “authentic” doesn’t mean old, anyway, certainly not 500+ years old. The whole history of some cuisines is less than that, but even where it isn’t, new dishes can still be perfectly authentic.
Sometimes southerners are funny, pointing out this when it was never mentioned in the first place!
I think of basketball as being an Indiana thing. Which in some ways, they are much like the south.
Which half of NC? Both have different barbecue styles. FWIW, I’m no expert of the subtleties of all the regional styles, and haven’t tried all of them, but either type of NC style has to be up near the top. My least favorite is Memphis because I don’t particularly like dry rub, but I haven’t tried enough to say for sure.
Right. “Barbecue is not Southern” is a valid perspective only to someone who doesn’t appreciate what the term means in the Southern US context.
When someone talks about fried chicken when talking about Southern food, do you tell them “WAIT, SOUTHERN frield chicken” so you may agree on terms? When people call barbecue part of Southern cuisine, it is understood to mean Southern BBQ, just as when people call fried chicken part of Southern cuisine, it is understood to mean Southern fried chicken.
Well said.
eta: Both of you!
Memphis actually has both dry and wet styles–it’s definitely not one or the other kind of place. And if you’re thinking Rendezvous (which I actually do like), that’s a weird outlier of an example, and not really what I would call “barbecue” normally, but rather a grilled style of ribs.
Yeah, I realized at some point (after eating at a truly foul Mexican restaurant beloved by lots of Mexican immigrants to our town) that “authenticity” isn’t something I value at all. I’m not even sure it’s a coherent concept, but if it is, I’m much more interested in finding food that tastes good to me than I am in finding food that’s “authentic.”
Would you like to compare your “good” German menu to this one…
http://www.theberghoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SpringSummerDinnerWeb2016.pdf