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Anyone who happened to read a recent White Trash BBQ post about the upcoming Hudson Valley Ribfest contest was bound to be confused. We love the contest, and have even won one of its categories in the past, but the part that got us was the dark allusion to a conspiracy of harassment: “I’m also worried a bit about the actions of a certain tribe in the barbeque world. Some of them will be at New Paltz. They’ve screwed with me and my friends before, and I don’t put it past them to do it again,” White Trash BBQ wrote.

Who are these shadowy figures? A kind of barbecue illuminati? “Every time I’ve crossed paths with them this year, a shit storm follows,” he says. What you aren’t reading here is the backstory, a squalid tale of barbecue betrayal and acrimony. The group the blogger, Robert Fernandez, refers to is the Barbecue Brethren, a loose confederation of Long Island competition barbecuers who keep their own message board, and to which Fernandez formerly belonged. But after using the forum to wage war against the Grill Kings contest, Fernandez got the boot. Like former spouses who carry their acrimony through subsequent marriages, White Trash Barbecue and the Barbecue Brethren harp on each other in the analog world. The Brethren shouldn’t feel too good about having exiled Fernandez; from what we hear, there’s a secret, inner-circle message board that even standard members can’t access. It’s a byzantine business, competition barbecue. Watch your back, Bob!

Time to Go [White Trash BBQ]