Culture
Texas Barbecue Is Four Traditions, Not One
Texas barbecue grew from German and Czech meat markets, Black East Texas pits, South Texas barbacoa and West Texas mesquite coals before brisket took over in the 1960s.
Culture
Some of what makes Texas feel like Texas never shows up in a budget table. This section covers the food, gatherings and habits that carry regional identity from one generation to the next: why a Lockhart meat market and an East Texas pit serve such different plates, how a Dallas fair outgrew its rivals, and what a 55 foot cowboy says about the state that keeps rebuilding him. History comes from named sources, never from legend repeated as fact.
Culture
The State Fair of Texas and the Making of Big Tex
A fair chartered in 1886 sits inside one of the country's largest intact 1930s exposition grounds, watched over by a cowboy that began life as a small town Santa Claus.