May 12, 2025

Competitive barbecue at risk of going up in smoke

Inflation has hamstrung the hobby

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Sampling at the 2015 ArkLaTex Ambassadors BBQ Cook-Off/ Photo by Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau via Flickr
Sampling at the 2015 ArkLaTex Ambassadors BBQ Cook-Off/ Photo by Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau via Flickr
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By Todd A. Price
Avatar photo
By Todd A. Price

The first time John and Stephanie Shirey saw a barbecue competition was in the early 2000s on “BBQ Pitmasters,” which injected reality-TV drama into a sport whose winning strategies are low and slow.

“We had never heard of food sports or anything like that before,” John Shirey said. 

 
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