Part 5/9:
Discussing the history of barbecue is as layered as the cooking styles themselves. Because various cultures have cooked food over hot coals since ancient times, establishing a definition for what constitutes barbecue can be challenging. Linguistic theories suggest that the term "barbecue" is derived not from the French phrase meaning "beard to tail," as some suggest, but from the Arawak word "barbacoa," referring instead to scaffolding used for guarding corn.