THInk

Jive Tofurky: A Document of PRF BBQ Meatless Grilling

Tree a-grillin' by Jodi Shapiro

Hey man, my name is Tree and I helped head up the grilling team for the 2009 PRF BBQ and its successor, the 2010 PRF BBQ.  The food at these BBQs was something to be proud of and very representative of the PRF’s lack of willingness to engage in the store-bought/prepackaged/cheap.  There were dozens of sausages from Chicago’s stellar Paulina Meat Market, even more sausages from the state of Wisconsin, homemade sausages, burgers hand-formed and seasoned with love and topped with a variety of cheeses, chicken parts, fish, and even pork shoulder.  “You Eat Well or You Go to Hell” was our motto*.

For both of these events, I made the decision to handle the vegetarian grilling duties.  I am not a vegetarian, far from it, though I tried it for about six months in 2003 until my wife became pregnant with our second child and was ravenous for meat.  Since it turned out the baby was mine, I figured I should start eating meat again as well.  I am a vegetarian sympathizer, and as an avid griller, it pains me to attend/host a cookout and see the meatless folks show up with frozen veggie patties, or even worse, tofu dogs.  There are actual vegetables to be consumed and many of them are delicious when grilled, so allow me to talk about the items that I made for these BBQs.

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