A method of cooking meat slowly over indirect heat and smoke, or the social gathering where such food is cooked and eaten.
From Spanish 'barbacoa,' which likely originated from Taíno (Caribbean indigenous language) 'barabicu,' referring to a wooden frame used for cooking. The word traveled through Spanish colonial trade routes into English in the 17th century.
The word 'barbacoa' originally described the structure itself, not the cooking method—Spanish conquistadors borrowed it from Caribbean natives and eventually English speakers flipped it to describe the food. This is why 'barbeque' works so differently across regions: American BBQ is completely different from authentic Caribbean barbacoa!
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