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This is super interesting! I wonder if there's a clear trend or explanation for Czech-Texans moving (back?) to the Czech Republic? This does a great job of exp

This is super interesting! I wonder if there's a clear trend or explanation for Czech-Texans moving (back?) to the Czech Republic? This does a great job of explaining a connection between Czech culture and Texas BBQ in Texas, but not how that leads to BBQ sauce hopping back across the Atlantic.

grendelt 8y ago
Right? It's like the article doesn't address the question at all.
notfromhere 8y ago
Quality of life greatly improved since post-Soviet days. Plus, if money isn't an issue Czechland wins over Texas any day
- geggam 8y ago
  reminds me of this quote “If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell” ― Philip Henry Sheridan
  - owlninja 8y ago
    “You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” -Davy Crockett
bane 8y ago
There's a completely unsubstantiated story I heard one time that Texas Chili was a heavily localized version of a Czech or Hungarian-style Goulash.
- cat199 8y ago
  the texas 'chicken fried steak' is basically schnizel (which is also served in cz under a different name veprove r^izek)
cat199 8y ago
TX-czech culture is heavily assimilated (like 3rd-5th generation), so while there is a large amount of cultural awareness among descendants, most do not speak fluent czech, etc. I'm sure this leads to some 'curiosity' types of people returning, but the remaining community with a strong identity is small and so there is not like a huge back-and-forth going on. For the reverse, I think there is some low-level awareness of czech texans by actual czechs, and at one time (not sure if this is still true) US western/country music was also a somewhat popular niche music type in CZ, so there is room for some cross pollenation. CZ is also hugely popular with american expats and there are quite a few places which cater to them specifically in Prague, etc, which could lead to more cultural cross-exposure. source: lived both
kodablah 8y ago
> This does a great job of explaining a connection between Czech culture and Texas BBQ in Texas, but not how that leads to BBQ sauce hopping back across the Atlantic. Because the author made an unsubstantiated correlation. The real reason is quite simple: globalization. And it's not unique to Czech stores and is unrelated IMO to CZ/TX culture (much of which is generations enough down the line now that places like the Czech Stop or Slovacek's just use it for marketing). Though, if you're bored this weekend, hop on over to Westfest which does have some Czech culture, but it's probably a bit watered down at this day and age as are most culture-based traditions.
wavefunction 8y ago
The other thing is Stubbs was founded by an African American gentleman from Lubbock.
hinkley 8y ago
I’ve been eating Korean barbecue since college and as far as the rest of the world is concerned I went to school in the middle of nowhere. In fact we briefly had four bulgogi places until the big one ate some of the others.
mrcsparker 8y ago
Czech Texans tended to settle in Central Texas which traditionally doesn't use sauce on their meat. East and South Texas use sauce.
- throwaway427 8y ago
  Just because Kreuz does it and every person from New York that goes to Texas to write about BBQ has mentioned it doesn't mean sauceless is even ubiquitous in Central Texas. This is like some weird myth perpetuated by foodie culture.
  - rootedbox 8y ago
    As a Texan who's had bbq all over the state.. I agree. Sauceless is NOT ubiquitous with central Texas. In fact very much the opposite.
bdcravens 8y ago
In the first paragraph: "They open a dialogue between their relatives and friends that remain in the other country. Because of that, ideas about food move both ways. While grilling meat has been around since the invention of fire, Texas-style barbeque recently made its way across the Atlantic. " My interpretation was that family that settled in Texas are influencing their family that didn't.
scarecrowbob 8y ago
To echo the other sentiments here, Stubbs is a Lubbock guy who was a legend on that music scene (I'm a musician from Lubbock and it's kind of a neat, if small, scene... and like a lot of those folks, I'm super happy to be from the panhandle instead of in the panhandle). While there is a lot of European culture out here (the German culture in Fredericksburg and the so-called Latin Colonies is interesting to me), that culture more or less is wholly unrelated to this sauce. I suspect that the brand is about as related to the real-life Stubbs as Stubbs is related to Czech folks in central Texas, that is to say, there is very little actual connection there.

grendelt 8y ago

Right? It's like the article doesn't address the question at all.

notfromhere 8y ago

Quality of life greatly improved since post-Soviet days. Plus, if money isn't an issue Czechland wins over Texas any day

geggam 8y ago
reminds me of this quote “If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell” ― Philip Henry Sheridan
- owlninja 8y ago
  “You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” -Davy Crockett

bane 8y ago

There's a completely unsubstantiated story I heard one time that Texas Chili was a heavily localized version of a Czech or Hungarian-style Goulash.

cat199 8y ago
the texas 'chicken fried steak' is basically schnizel (which is also served in cz under a different name veprove r^izek)

cat199 8y ago

TX-czech culture is heavily assimilated (like 3rd-5th generation), so while there is a large amount of cultural awareness among descendants, most do not speak fluent czech, etc. I'm sure this leads to some 'curiosity' types of people returning, but the remaining community with a strong identity is small and so there is not like a huge back-and-forth going on. For the reverse, I think there is some low-level awareness of czech texans by actual czechs, and at one time (not sure if this is still true) US western/country music was also a somewhat popular niche music type in CZ, so there is room for some cross pollenation. CZ is also hugely popular with american expats and there are quite a few places which cater to them specifically in Prague, etc, which could lead to more cultural cross-exposure. source: lived both

kodablah 8y ago

> This does a great job of explaining a connection between Czech culture and Texas BBQ in Texas, but not how that leads to BBQ sauce hopping back across the Atlantic. Because the author made an unsubstantiated correlation. The real reason is quite simple: globalization. And it's not unique to Czech stores and is unrelated IMO to CZ/TX culture (much of which is generations enough down the line now that places like the Czech Stop or Slovacek's just use it for marketing). Though, if you're bored this weekend, hop on over to Westfest which does have some Czech culture, but it's probably a bit watered down at this day and age as are most culture-based traditions.

wavefunction 8y ago

The other thing is Stubbs was founded by an African American gentleman from Lubbock.

hinkley 8y ago

I’ve been eating Korean barbecue since college and as far as the rest of the world is concerned I went to school in the middle of nowhere. In fact we briefly had four bulgogi places until the big one ate some of the others.

mrcsparker 8y ago

Czech Texans tended to settle in Central Texas which traditionally doesn't use sauce on their meat. East and South Texas use sauce.

throwaway427 8y ago
Just because Kreuz does it and every person from New York that goes to Texas to write about BBQ has mentioned it doesn't mean sauceless is even ubiquitous in Central Texas. This is like some weird myth perpetuated by foodie culture.
- rootedbox 8y ago
  As a Texan who's had bbq all over the state.. I agree. Sauceless is NOT ubiquitous with central Texas. In fact very much the opposite.

bdcravens 8y ago

In the first paragraph: "They open a dialogue between their relatives and friends that remain in the other country. Because of that, ideas about food move both ways. While grilling meat has been around since the invention of fire, Texas-style barbeque recently made its way across the Atlantic. " My interpretation was that family that settled in Texas are influencing their family that didn't.

scarecrowbob 8y ago

To echo the other sentiments here, Stubbs is a Lubbock guy who was a legend on that music scene (I'm a musician from Lubbock and it's kind of a neat, if small, scene... and like a lot of those folks, I'm super happy to be from the panhandle instead of in the panhandle). While there is a lot of European culture out here (the German culture in Fredericksburg and the so-called Latin Colonies is interesting to me), that culture more or less is wholly unrelated to this sauce. I suspect that the brand is about as related to the real-life Stubbs as Stubbs is related to Czech folks in central Texas, that is to say, there is very little actual connection there.