Barbacoa (Taíno wooden grill frame)
Barbacoa (parrilla de varas de los taínos)
- Date
- c. 1492-1535 · confidence medium
- Place
- Hispaniola, Dominican Republic
- Credited to
- Taíno people
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A frame of wooden poles over a fire for roasting or smoking meat and fish, also serving as a platform for sleeping or storage. The Spanish 'barbacoa' and the English 'barbecue' derive from the Taíno word.
Underground cooking is Mesoamerican and older; what is Taíno is the pole frame and the word (Oviedo describes it in 1535). The exact origin of the culinary use of the term is debated.
What it led to
- spread of grill-roasting into American and European culinary traditions
- entry of the term into Spanish and English
- regional variants (Jamaican jerk, southern US smoking)
Built on
- Smoking and drying of food