The Surprising Truth Behind 16th-century Spanish Explorers and Barbacoas

Illustration of a 16th-century Barbacoa

The following is a discussion about a small portion of the chapter "Hernando's Barbacoa" in the book From Barbycu to Barbecue. The book is published by the University of South Carolina Press. It was peer reviewed for two years and cites over 2000 primary and secondary sources. It is available from online booksellers and from many of the best local bookstores.

The widely accepted tall tale of how barbecue was "discovered" begins with the ancient Taino people of what is today Haiti and the word the Spanish borrowed from them "barbacoa." Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers, we are told, soon adopted the Taino way of cooking, which is sometimes described as cooking pork low and slow with indirect heat. From there, English speakers adopted the word barbacoa with an Anglo spin pronouncing it as "barbecue." This theory of the origins of barbecue is entertaining, but it is far from the facts as they are recorded in historical records.

It is true that 16th-century Spanish explorers witnessed ancient Taino people using barbacoas. However, the word "barbacoa" was used only as a noun and it did not refer to the food on a barbacoa nor did it refer to the way of cooking. Records from the 1500s through the 1800s refer to barbacoas only as wooden grills suspended on three or four forked corner posts and, sometimes, as being attached to a tree trunk on one end and two forked posts on the other. At some point, people in Mexico adopted the word "barbacoa" to refer earthen ovens, which are holes dug into the ground and filled with hot rocks before wrapping food in leaves and placing it in the pit before covering it with leaves and soil. Even so, to this day, the word "barbacoa" is used in Mexico only as a noun to refer to the earthen oven and the food that is cooked in one.

The notion that word "barbacoa" refers to a way of cooking was invented in the United States after the end of World War II. Americans invented the verb "barbacoa" and promoted the idea that because Spanish explorers were the first to use the word "barbacoa," that must be how barbecue was created. Nevertheless, firsthand accounts from the 16th through 19th centuries do not support those assertions.

It is true that Spaniards who came to the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries were fascinated by barbacoas, but it wasn't because they craved a delicious pork barbecue sandwich topped with a tangy, spicy sauce and coleslaw. The truth about the 16th-century Spanish love affair with barbacoas is far more fascinating than the modern myth about it.

Early records of Spanish exploits in the Americas occasionally mention barbacoas. The word is used to describe wooden grills on which foods were cooked, smoked, and dried. The word "barbacoa" was also used to describe porticos, bridges, and even tree houses inhabited by indigenous people. "So," you may ask, "just why were Spaniards so fascinated by barbacoas?" One reason was how indigenous people used barbacoas to store things like clothing skins, corn, and other foods. Warm animal skins and food was always in high demand among Spanish conquistadors and their armies. But, that's not the main reason Spaniards sought out barbacoas.

The Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475–1519) was the first European to lead a quest across Panama’s Isthmus and to march to the Pacific Ocean. In the year 1513 he sent a secret communique to King Ferdinand II (1452–1516) that contained a closely guarded secret. The secret was so closely guarded, it escaped detection by people who study barbecue history since it was revealed to King Ferdinand until now. The top secret, highly classified information in that communique was this: Caciques, leaders of indigenous tribes, hid vast amounts of gold in barbacoas.

Because one of the main goals of a conquistador’s mission was to find treasure for the king, this discovery was significant. It is also why it was to be kept secret and only shared with those the king sent to the Americas. Indeed, to King Ferdinand and his conquistadors, the closely guarded secret message was clear. Find a barbacoa, and you will find treasures. From that point forward, one of the main missions of Spanish explorers was to seek out barbacoas. Barbacoas stored corn that could feed their army and gold that could feed their greed. That explains why records show that one of the first things Spanish explorers did when encountering a Native American village was to head straight to the barbacoas. It also explains why the indigenous people defended them with their lives.

When carefully reviewing credible historical records, it is easy to see that the modern American tale of the origin of barbecue just does not stand up to facts. Get a copy of From Barbycu to Barbecue for a fresh look at barbecue history and how history tells us that southern barbecuing in the United States is an original style of barbecuing that was born in the southern United States and was not imported from the Caribbean.