The birth of barbecue...
A stunning history lesson

This week, a culinary anniversary passed quietly in the South. March 25 marked the first time a barbecue was recorded in what is now the southeastern United States.

The barbecue, recorded by Spaniards from the Hernando de Soto expedition, consisted of turkey and deer and took place in 1540 in what is now Georgia.

Hernando de Soto and his men were making their way from the Gulf Coast toward what they thought was a powerful Mississippian chiefdom in what is now North Carolina.

De Soto set sail from Cuba and landed in 1539 at the bay near present-day Tampa with 650 soldiers and 220 horses on a quest to find gold, riches and glory.