Few things in the world are more American than an old-fashioned barbeque. Meat, the great outdoors, and fire — surely, cooking animal flesh over an open flame is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote that man had the unalienable right to pursue happiness.

U.S.A! U.S.A!

But, what exactly is barbeque? Or wait is it barbecue? No, seriously. What is it? How can something so delicious be so confusing!?

It's B-B-Q, not B-B-C!

Apparently, I have been using the term wrong my entire life. There is nothing wrong with admitting when one is wrong, and it turns out that what I have been describing as barbequing is actually "grilling." The difference is simple, though both cooking methods involve an open flame (hence why I was confused), according to author Marybeth Feutz, grilling is cooking foods hot and fast and Barbecuing is cooking foods low and slow.

As a native Spanish speaker, things are even more confusing because the English term traces its etymology to the Spanish word barbacoa — a completely different form of cooking that sometimes involves digging a pit in the ground as part of a process that can take up to three days to cook meat.

Oh, and is it turns out, Spanish colonialists "borrowed" the term barbacoa from barabicu, a word in the language of the Arawak people that describes a cooking process that in part resembles what some might describe as "grilling."

BUT WAIT! That's might also not be true? According to a Reader's Digest article on the subject, the word comes from "the French phrase barbe à queue, which means 'whiskers to tail' and describes the process of roasting an entire pig." Sacré bleu! Who invited the French to this cookout?!

Okay, now I am fully confused. As it turns, out the great American tradition of barbequing is not American at all, but may owe its roots to Native Caribbean people — and possibly even the French! What about the sauce? BBQ sauce, that's American right? Well, kinda.

Sure, the modern product that is known as BBQ Sauce is an American product, but the roots of the sauce intertwine throughout the globe and across history. This article on the subject, claims that proto-BBQ sauce, "probably had its roots in Africa." This statement makes sense, after all, BBQing is still a great part of Black American culture. However, this other article, claims that BBQ sauce may have Chinese origins dating back to 239 BCE! The article explains that Chinese Chef I Yin was among the first to describe meat preparation that involved some sort of sweet and tangy sauce (i.e. the basic flavor profile of most BBQ sauces). But the Asian influence doesn't stop there! 

As I dove into the subject, I also learned that ketchup, one of the main ingredients of BBQ sauce, was also invented in China! "Wait, a minute," you're probably thinking, "how can ketchup be invented in China if tomatoes were first cultivated in the Americans?" Well, it wasn't tomato ketchup that was invented in China, but rather the process of making this type of sauce. Kê-tsiap is the Hokkien Chinese word for a sauce made from fermented fish. Eventually, the British started making their own "ketchups" using ingredients like "mushrooms, walnuts, oysters, or anchovies." By 1812, tomatoes were used in ketchup production, eventually becoming synonymous with the sauce. 

As it turns out, even though it did not originate in the USA, the history of BBQ proves that this food preparation tradition is very American. If anything, the multi-layer story of barbeque (or whatever you want to call it) embodies the spirit of Americaness — a hodgepodge of ingredients "melting in a pot" to make a delicious treat.