What is Reddit's opinion of A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of William Dampier: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer?

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Nope, it's Caribbean. The word "barbecue" entered the English language via a guy named William Dampier, who was a naturalist, privateer, first person to circumnavigate the world three times, discovered a bunch of Australia and sort of a general scallywag.

He inspired Gulliver's Travels, influenced Darwin's ideas on natural selection, was the genesis for Captain Bligh's breadfruit journey that caused the mutiny on the Bounty, and 80 words (such as chopstick and avocado) entered the OED on account of his observations.

One of those words was used in describing a method by which fish was smoked indirectly using a wooden rack set around a fire. The word was "barbecue".

Anyway, the mention in the article notwithstanding, the cooking method wasn't entirely unique to Caribbean cultures, but the English word used to describe that method of cooking was. Now whether the word means invention is another matter.

By the way, if you like history and want a fascinating read, check out this book about Dampier: https://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Exquisite-Mind-Naturalist-Buccaneer/dp/042520037X

> Up there with "what is real BBQ?"

Not really as it turns out. BBQ is meat cooked over low indirect heat with wood smoke. Could be beef, could be chicken, could be dormouse, could be fish. It's not really "up there" any more than "what is boiling?" or "what is roasting?" since it's a pretty well-defined and very old cooking method.

The word "barbeque" entered the English language through a man named William Dampier. He was also responsible for over 800 other words in the OED, including words like avocado, chopstick, and kumquat. He observed Caribbean islanders cooking meat on wood racks set vertically around a very smoky fire and turned every so often, over the course of many hours. The low heat dried the meat and the smoke helped preserve it. The islanders called this cooking method "barabicu", which Dampier anglicized into "barbeque". That's what real BBQ is, because that's where the word comes from. It's entirely unambiguous, though it's been co-opted quite a bit.

Dampier was quite the character. Captain Blight set out on the Bounty because of Dampier describing breadfruit. He was the first guy to make a complete chart of wind and tides around the entire world. Navigators used his charts up into the early 1900's. Charles Darwin was inspired by his observations. Circumnavigated the globe three times. His life is well worth a read: http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Exquisite-Mind-Naturalist-Buccaneer/dp/042520037X

> You are wrong. That is a revisionist view of bbq and it completely ignores history.

I am most certainly not wrong, and I'm most emphatically not ignoring history. My entire point is that those mis-using the word are the ones ignoring history (or are ignorant of it).

Do you know how the word "barbeque" entered the English language? A buccaneer/naturalist named William Dampier observed Caribbean Indians cooking fish in the late 1600's over racks set vertically around a very smoky fire. The low heat gently cooked the fish and the smoke preserved them for later.

That low, indirect heat with smoke process was a cooking method Dampier called "barbecue", which was an Anglicization of the Indian word "barabicu".

And that is where the term "barbeque" comes from. It is not grilling, nor a question of distance. It is a very specific and distinct method of cooking.

BTW, Dampier is also responsible for around 800 other words entering the English language, including avocado, chopsticks, and kumquat. Here's a very good book about him. In it you will find a very nice description of how along his many travels he caused barbeque to become an English word, as well as more info about what the process looked like. Spoiler alert: It didn't look like grilling. :-)