Welcome

Welcome to Pacific Rim BBQ.

Why a second blog? What could be different between this one and Bob's Brew and Que? Well, it has to do with some recent discussions that ranged wildly about everything from BBQ to the lexicon of food and really the nature of communication, heady stuff for a food blog. But, there is a point. What is BBQ? What is my vision of BBQ, or even of cuisine in general. This is where things got a little interesting for me.

In my more traditional mode, I believe BBQ is all about slow cooking meat, over an open fire, letting the fire and smoke season the meat. Letting time and heat work their magic over hours and hours to turn tough but flavorful cuts of meat into marvelous tender plates of food. This definition still fits for me, even as it has now has become a little narrow, as BBQ for the hard core amongst us. Bob's Brew and Que will remain true to this ideal. It will be where I discuss, for want of a better term, Traditional American BBQ.

But, I have come to a realization that there is more to language, as there is more to food, eating and cooking, that holding to a traditional ideal. As came to me, the fact that words change, that language is really about communication and sharing. Words should not be stuck in a place or tradition. So, for this blog, I am going to use BBQ in the collective, to collaborate across ideas of what it can be. I want to have this blog be where I discuss what BBQ can be, what it might share and take from other cultures and regions.

What "Pacific Rim BBQ" will be is my record of the considered and careless fusion of my culture, my American birthright, my Japanese heritage and the unique fusion of what the California and San Francisco Bay Area food experience can be. From the borrowed tastes of the Italian and Portuguese immigrants that shared the places my grandparents first settled, to the variety of cultures, such places such as India, Southeast Asia, China and Korea and some of the old European cultures that are seeing a new renaissance as people have flocked here over the past two decades seeking jobs in technology.

I hope you all enjoy both journeys.