Green Barbeque Blues

I have carried a lot of worry that finding a sustainable barbeque solution was going to be impossible. I can count on one hand the number of barbeque restaurants in the entire southeast that do sustainable barbeque. This hallowed southern establishment buys from the big CAFO’s in North Carolina and drive some of the worst water pollution in the world. 

Enter Brent of White Lightning Barbeque Company.   Late 20′s, early 30′s. The youngest son in the family business. Southern to a T. His mom has made chicken salad for Sonny Perdue, our current Governor and a true south Georgia boy. 

Brent’s eyes danced as we ran the different options.  We were all in agreement.  Nice but nothing fancy. We need to give all the Yankees the real southern experience but not make it hokey.

The menu was pretty easy. Pulled pork, chicken salad, Brunswick stew, potato salad, cole slaw, sweet tea (plus lots of unsweet tea so the Yankees can dilute the real stuff), pecan pie, and banana pudding.

Then we got to the sourcing discussion.  Everything was perfect. My heart raced. It was like being on a first date with a boy you really liked and preparing to reveal a fact that you knew was going to be make or break. 

Before I knew it, we were done with round one with flying colors. All were in agreement. We’d do a local pig that was not from a large farm.

 ”Is free range better than local?” he asked. 

I was stopped dead in my tracks. A million caveats ran through my head. “How do I answer that? How do I give him an answer he can hold onto and not an ‘it depends’?” Sean gave a slight laugh. In a stressed out, fast clip I spit out, “we’d prefer a free range option from within the state.” Inside my heart sank. That was not the tone I wanted to portray. Ugg. My inner critic sang “now he thinks you’re. You made him thing green is hard.”  All the while I was hearing my new hero Farmer Scott’s, “those free range chicken operations are a bunch of bologna.”

In an instant that all passed. I overreacted. I realized Brent really was excited about this like we are. He wants to learn about going green. He is genuinely interested for himself and he sees the potential it has for his business. He is pumped that this wedding will give him the opportunity to learn.

My heart burst with joy. I could barely contain myself. We found what we were looking for!