Welcome to the blog for Colgate University's interdisciplinary course on food. This is the place to keep up with what students in the course are experiencing in their work at Common Thread Community Farm and through their everyday encounters with food.

Monday, September 26, 2016

Summer Meat Festival-NYC

Each Summer, in New York, there is an annual meat festival called the “Big Apple Barbecue Block Party”, which takes place around Madison Square Park. A description of the vent goes as follows: “Looking for the best BBQ in NYC? Look no further—the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party brings together New York ‘cue superstars with pitmasters from the best barbecue restaurants in America at Madison Square Park. Sink your teeth into both regional and global barbecue styles, from Texas (Baker’s Ribs) to Tennessee (Martin’s Bar-B-Que) and beyond. In between plates of meat, you can even take in outdoor summer concerts on the park’s main stage for free” (timeout.com).
I have two aunts who live in Manhattan so I’ve gone to this festival for the past two to three summers. We take the food we purchase to the rooftop of my aunts’ apartment and then just enjoy a day in the sun. My father and I are similar in the sense that we are meat-lovers. Whenever my mom prepares salad or solely vegetables and rice for dinner, my dad always inquires, “Where’s the meat? I most definitely am a carnivore. I’m not a rabbit who eats leaves” in a joking manner. I of course take after my father and do enjoy when there is meat in my meals. Although I have never tried veal nor lamb, I have eaten pork, chicken, beef, and even alligator. There are different food trucks for each restaurant that decides to showcase their specialties. These restaurants are from all over the country. The way in which my family approaches this event each year is to do research on what restaurants will be present and look at the online menus they provide and further assess the overall quality of the food by looking at the reviews. This would help us locate our favorite restaurants ahead of time. The food trucks for each restaurant don’t serve what one would typically find on their menu but rather search a small container that will show people what they’re about and demonstrate the excellence of their meat.
Out of all the restaurants we previewed, our favorites included:
-Salt Lick from Driftwood, Texas, which served beef brisket and sausage
-Pappy’s Smokehouse from St. Louis, Missouri, which sells ribs.
-Blue Smoke (my personal favorite), which featured a pulled pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw. Conveniently, this restaurant has a location in New York that is a few blocks away from the festival. (All based on info from New York Eater).
There are a few people in my family—my brother and mom— who are not particularly fans of meat other than chicken. Thus, we will just get takeout from a local restaurant so they are not excluded during this food excursion. My brother will often go to “Smacks” in fact, which is a well-known macaroni and cheese food establishment that sells individual bowls of various kinds of macaroni and cheese. All in all, more info on this event, with menu’s included, can be found at: http://ny.eater.com/2016/4/6/11372154/big-apple-barbecue-block-party-nyc .

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