American Idol Anoop Desai's 60-Page College Honor's Thesis on Barbecue
I'm not really watching American Idol this season because the last thing I need is another umpteen hours of television a week, but if I were watching, I'd be pulling for Anoop Desai. I mean, how can you not love a contestant who wrote a 60-page college honors thesis about barbecue?
Sixty pages! Wow.
Desai wrote the paper as an undergrad at the University of North Carolina, a state that knows a thing or two about 'cue. The table of contents is listed below, but you can download and read the whole thing from anoopdog.com [pdf]. Desai is now a grad student at UNC, but this University of Kansas grad and KC barbecue partisan won't hold that against him.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Why Foodways?
Chapter 2: Barbecue in the South
Chapter 3: Southern Myth
Chapter 4: Barbecue as Myth
Chapter 5: Barbecue as Religion
Chapter 6: Barbecue as a Lens I: Opposition Culture
Chapter 7: Barbecue as a Lens II: Ethnographies
I. Allen and Son—Chapel Hill, NC
II. The Skylight Inn—Ayden, NC
The Barbecue Joint—Chapel Hill, NC
III. Stamey’s Barbecue—Greensboro, NC
Lexington Barbecue—Lexington, NC
IV. The Future
Conclusion
Works Consulted
You know what? I think I may just have to watch now—despite Desai's UNC ties. [via Daniel Zemans]
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9 Comments:
That's pretty cool. Food is indeed an academically enriching endeavor.
runnereater at 3:23PM on 02/14/09
What, no link to video of Simon Cowell saying, "So you study barbecue?"
Michele Humes at 3:51PM on 02/14/09
Okay, a good-looking man with a good voice who wrote his thesis on barbecue...
...does anyone know if he's single? I'm kidding. Sort of.
cochon at 3:54PM on 02/14/09
If he sings "Hunka Hunka Burnin Love" and goes down on a rib....I betcha he'd win... at least with this crew.
bisbee at 8:37PM on 02/14/09
Um, okay, that is awesome. I liked him anyway - good voice, unassuming & genuinely nice guy persona - but this might put him over the top. As a native North Carolinian, I fully understand the huge deal that is barbecue, but I've never heard of anyone writing a thesis on it. I love it. And even though I'm a die-hard Wake Forest fan (and hate UNC), he's now got my vote.
kimberlymac at 9:09AM on 02/15/09
This is awesome! I'm going to have to read his thesis now.
tastyfever at 3:41PM on 02/15/09
Nice. Thanks for linking us to his thesis. Not a fan of American Idol, so I have no idea who this guy is. Still, I love Carolina Q. N.C. and the surrounding states have the best BBQ in the world, with Texas following close behind. No offense to you K.C. folk either. There is rarely such a thing as bad BBQ, if it's done right, and they darn sure do it right in K.C.
Raiders757 at 11:45PM on 02/15/09
I go to school with him. He was a UNC undergrad as well, he just happened to audition at Kansas (he did not attend their university). Just a minor correction from a fellow Tarheel!
youny at 8:17AM on 02/16/09
And researchers at Texas A&M (gig 'em) found that the fat in brisket had the highest level of unsaturated fats of any beef!
Sara DowntoEarth at 12:08PM on 02/25/09