Was Bob a big cook at home before y’all got the restaurant?
MS: Yes, he always liked to cook. He was always cooking steaks or something at home. He really liked to cook. Now Van, I remember the story about you talking about your dad learning to barbecue from a man in Tennessee? Can you talk about that? VS: Yeah, sure. Daddy was from a little tiny place called Cumberland City, Tennessee, which is right in the bend of the Cumberland River, a little small place—farming community—and the Sykes is one of the—you know, one of the families that spread out all out there in Stewart County. But back then I remember, like on a cold winter day, my daddy used to say, “Boy, this would be a good day to slaughter a hog. A good day to kill a hog.” So I guess that sparked the, you know, me asking and him telling me the story of how they would catch them and—and butcher them and split them and, you know, the family would get the high end of the pig, and they broke it down and the back legs went for the ham. But the black families would always get the front legs b
