Page 28 - Barbecue News Magazine September 2021

Vic Clevenger
Chimney Cartel
victor0568@gmail.com
Growing up I’ve always loved an adventure. Have you ever climbed trees with a Tarzan yell looking to fight off a lion or crocodile? When was the last time you headed out into the woods behind your house in search of Bigfoot because you were convinced, if he was real, he lived in those woods? Built a tree- house fort that still show remnants of being there some 35 years later? Camping with the monsters? Fishing the vast Nile River, we referred to as East Fork creek? These adventures and more have fed into my sense of adventure.
I blame my grandfather for this adventurous side of me. Who else would there be to blame as he told me stories of how he and Daniel Boone blazed the Cumberland Gap (my grandfather was born in 1908, just a couple hundred years after Daniel Boone)? He and Davey Crockett also hunted in the woods we would drive by on our way to the Smokey Mountains (again, ref- erence the history dates and when my grandfather was born). But these tall tales and my love for adventure has brought me to right where I am today, The Cooking Adventure.
The Cooking Adventure Brings Stories
When I was in history class, I enjoyed the stories that came with
those explorers like Lewis & Clark. Stories of who they called on for help. Stories of what they experienced. Stories which grew into folklore. We all love a good story and have since we were babies. Our parents laid us to sleep with stories of Three Bears, Three Pigs, a girl wearing a red hood off to see her grandmother and so many more. Some of my favorites were the ones my grandfather and my father would tell from their youth. Theses stories were ones of playing in the woods, hunting for food and just a few tall tales of discovery.
Cooking adventures brings the same kind of stories. Stories of championships both won and lost. Stories of after parties and get-togethers. Some of these stories I’ve heard numerous times with little changes here and there. I’ve even heard some stories told to me about something I had witnessed from people who weren’t even there which always makes me laugh. Cooking ad- ventures have this way of offering plethora of stories to become cooking lore. Sitting around with the “old-timers” of BBQ lis- tening to them talk about cooking on a homemade brick pit or when digital thermometers weren’t available always has me on the edge of my seat. Then there are those stories that have nothing to do with cooking but occurred at a cooking event.
The Cooking Adventure Brings Challenges
When I heard about the gift Captain Zebulon Pike had brought back to President Thomas Jefferson, I was amazed. On his expedition to explore the Arkansas River, he unwittingly ventured into Spanish territory and was arrested. As he was escorted back to the US territory, he purchased a couple of grizzly bears cubs. He brought them back to Washington D.C. and offered them as a gift to the President. The President had already heard how ferocious grizzly bears were from the stories of Lewis & Clark. My question when I heard this story, was, in 1807, how did he get them there without a truck? Can you see the challenges this would pose, even if they were cubs? He was a prisoner of sorts being extradited but still bought a couple bears? How did he convince his captors to get them? How was the containment unit con- structed? There are so many questions.
With the cooking adventure, there are also so many questions. Financial concerns always top a list of chal- lenges. This is why many teams seek sponsors to off-set
BarbecueNews.com - 28
SEPTEMBER 2021
The Cooking Adventure
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