It s June and the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival has come to Tryon, NC.  For those of you out of the BBQ loop, this is THE BIG ONE: the official NC Championship Barbecue Competition. Weeks earlier, I had said, yes, I ll be honored to be one of your judges. OK,   I was only going to be a celebrity judge for the Everything But category. Happily, the real BBQ contest is left to very well-trained, very certified, very official BBQ judges.

 

 My qualifications for this honor were heavily dependent on my many years of eating experience and my visible ability to enjoy good food.  In the spirit of furthering my culinary education (and since I was to represent our organization, perhaps fear of possible public embarrassment), Ken, Head Honcho at LakesEdge Realty, had kindly provided me with food judge training material. A half page of judge on appearance, texture, smell, taste . Let s just say that I had my doubts about my ability not to muddle this up.

 

The BBQ Festival offers fabulous music, myriad shopping and playing opportunities, and great food. It was nice and warm. A great way to spend a June day! Having been warned that there would be many entries to judge, and wanting to do justice to them all, I opted to limit breakfast and lunch. Having repeatedly said no thank you to the ribs whose delightful aroma kept wafting by me, by late afternoon my stomach was gnawing on my own ribs.  I was proud of my willpower:  I was hungry and ready to report for duty.

 

The judging system was explained. I got some of it but certainly did not feel that I understood it completely or even semi-completely. I was torn between thinking about the love, time, expense and sweat devoted to preparing for this contest, and the final it s BBQ guys, not rocket science . Could my hand be the only hand raised as I croaked out could you please repeat all that one more time, please? I was saved by the announcement of a short break and a kind soul who gave me a discrete tutoring session.

 

We were sworn in. If I had still had any doubts about the seriousness of my participation in this event, they were dispelled as I stood with my right hand raised and swore to preserve the American Way Of Life Including BBQ.

 

The moment had arrived. I was as ready as I was going to get. Our table captain approached with the first contestant. I was to give it something between a heart-breaking 2 and an exhilarating 9 on appearance. This was the BBQ equivalent of the swimsuit competition. Contestant #1 looked appetizing and I gave it its reward. Contestant #2 looked pretty good too. I was already beginning to doubt my scoring.  Maybe I was a bit too hungry? Contestant #3 arrived. Definitely a wallflower. Saved again.

 

Eventually all candidates sat on their numbered square on my judge s plate. Time to dig in! No, wait, I was here in a professional capacity! Proceed slowly and carefully First, tenderness. As I struggled to cut with my utensils, a plastic fork and spoon, I knew I had the criteria for tenderness down pat. There was no knife therefore it was all meant to fall apart under pressure of picnic plastic.

 

Finally, finally, cae the moment I had waited for, the taste tests. I professionally dug in.

 

The candidates were interesting.  Since taste, texture, and appearance were all important, the cooks had used every bit of their creativity. The dishes were a mix of textures and colors, beautiful as well as tasty. The shrimp with pineapple and red onion was gorgeous. The steak, mouth-watering. The fish steak taco was a concept I needed to get used to.  Maybe it just needed a bit of improvement. Fish quesadilla? Fish fajita? 

 

My judging was very subjective but what isn t? I had great fun and since I had to think about the food I was eating, I learned something about my food preferences. The dishes that were forced to surrender the identity of their raw materials to the spices used were not my favorites. Complement and enhance, don t overpower seems to be my judging style. I have become an official food judge. And the only thing I would change about the experience is that I would have liked to have had real silverware. That just seems a more appropriate way to acknowledge the wonderful food and the effort of the real contestants, the incredible cooks.

 

I am definitely looking forward to next year.

 

Joelle van den Berg  (as published in the Tryon Daily Bulletin)

Blue Ridge BBQ Festival , June 2007