A San Francisco BBQ Festival is Born!

We are proud to announce that on October 24, we’ll be participating in the inaugural San Francisco BBQ Festival! This event is being billed as a celebration of the best in Bay Area barbecue, and we’re beyond thrilled to be involved. 

Of course, the event will include lots of great, smoky barbecued meat, but there’s also going to be games, music, and a beer garden; as well as what the organizers are describing as the latest in barbecue technology. We’re not exactly sure what that’s going to be, but hey, you can’t have a festival around these parts without including some cutting-edge tech.

If you’d like to check it out, you can get more info on the official event website. By the way, tickets are limited, so if you think you’d like to go, don’t wait too long to order yours. We hope to see you there, and if you mention this blog post, we're going to send you home with a complimentary jar of SFQ. So, come by, and say hi! 

Good Food Awards Go Into the Pantry

Last year around this time, I had a few fans of the sauce wish me good luck in the Good Food Awards. It was very flattering, but also a little awkward, since SFQ wasn’t actually entered. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but the awards simply didn’t have a category that our barbecue sauce fit into. Well, I’m happy to announce that has changed this year!

They’ve added a Pantry category, and not only that, but I’ve been asked to serve on the committee for this new group of products. My friend, and local artisan food maven, Alli Ball, is chairing the committee, and being able to participate with her and the other members, is quite an honor. In case your wondering, even though I'm on the committee, we can still enter SFQ, since I don’t have anything to do with the voting.

My main duty is to hunt down similar producers, and encourage them to enter their fine products. Basically, I’m trying to help assemble the toughest competition imaginable, knowing full well that the real winner is the buying public, who hopefully learns about many great, new companies by following these awards.

You can read all about it at the Good Food Awards website, and if you know of any worthy participants, please let me know! You can leave a comment here, or tweet me: @MicheleManfredi. I’m really looking forward to this celebration of authentic, and responsibly produced food, and will keep you updated as news breaks. Stay tuned!

Eating with Our Hands

Our very first dinner date was in February, 1989. We went to a local barbecue joint, so there were none of those anxious, wondering what I should order, first date food fears. I remember laughing when we both ordered the same thing, a big, saucy plate of ribs. Smiling at each other, flirting, we forgo the napkins.

Our table etiquette was sauce covered fingers, with only occasional downward glances to pick up more ribs. Conversation was easy, the food was good, and a romance began over shared plates of lip smacking, messy barbecue. Our first date aside, one could argue that barbecued food just tastes better because it’s socially acceptable to eat with your hands.

It has that primal aspect of shared culinary history, that no matter where you’re from, eating with your hands is something our ancestors did. I like to think everyone at the table feels more comfortable when they’re eating barbecue. That there's more of a connection with the food. It’s a special camaraderie you only get through plates being shared.

Now, some 26 years later, we're still eating with our hands, flirting with each other, and I still somehow manage to always drip sauce on myself, only this time it's our sauce. With that in mind, I hope you have a great Valentine's, and if you're still deciding on what to eat, you can't go wrong with barbecue...especially, if it's served with a sauce spiked with potent and popular aphrodisiacs like chiles and chocolate.