National Meat Week

Dan General

meat
No matter what kind of meat you like Bar-B-Q’d, this is the week for you. Gather your friends and hit the restaurants in your area. Cathy Isom tells you all about the week-long celebration devoted to a lot of Bar-B-Q. That’s coming up on “This Land of Ours.”

Download National Meat Week

Every last week in January, for eight consecutive nights to be exact, some serious Bar-B-Q lovers gather in cities across the country to celebrate “Meat Week,” where they feast on good ol’ American Bar-B-Q pork, ribs, brisket, chicken and anything else that can be meatsmoked and smothered into sauce. The idea began back in 2005 by Tallahassee, Florida co-workers Chris Cantey and Erni Walker.

Here’s how it works. One person in each city is chosen as “The Captain.” The Captain creates a schedule to visit seven different BBQ restaurants for the week. People will eat together, take pictures and share on the internet, and in some cities, even give out awards to the best restaurants. On the eighth night, the festivities end at someone’s home with a BYOBBQ and cookout, which usually falls on Superbowl Sunday. As many as 15 to 20 cities celebrate Meat Week with their own chapters. The longest-consecutively-running chapters are: Tallahassee, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

I’m Cathy Isom…