I recently read an article that listed things that people from outside Memphis have to explain to people who are visiting (the article was SPOT ON and you can read it here.)  Number 6 was my favorite (it was, in point of fact, a LOL moment), stating that asking who has the best barbeque in Memphis will instantly tense up a room.

Memphis is in fact a great barbecue town, and I will frequently argue its merits against KC as the best BBQ place in the world.  My opinions may not hold as much weight as I eat almost zero pork.  Let me splain….  I gave up pork entirely in the early part of the millennium and didn’t have a morsel for over a decade.  It was a health choice, and pork wasn’t singled out.  I had no red meat for several years, went vegetarian for a while, vegan for 2 years, all in a quest simply to treat my body better and do my part to make more sustainable choices for the planet.  After years of studying and tinkering with my own diet, I landed in a place currently where 90+% of the things that I consume are plant-based, I trend towards more “Mediterranean diet” types of preparation, and when eating out I go along with the best menu items and if being fed by others I’ll have whatever you took the time to put together.

For example, you simply cannot argue with any ingredient Hog and Hominy wants to put on a pizza.  If you go to Schweinehaus, you are going to be tempted to make and entire meal out of the Brussels sprouts loaded with bacon.  And once in a while someone caters in Commissary and you just have to dive in…  So given my position of mostly vegetarian whose had all the good stuff around town, when asked about the best BBQ in town, I will offer up Interstate, the Germantown Commissary and Central BBQ as my faves.