People from the stone ages knew how to smoke and grill all manner of meats, but, when the Spanish explorers to the new world brought back the native spices, and their design of spit and grill roasting meats, from the Taino Indians and other Native American Indians in the Caribbean, and modified their word for that type of food into “barbacoa”, this combination of spices, technique, and European pork and beef and chicken, came together as the Barbecue we know and love.  Also, originally, a barbacoa wasn’t a way of cooking food, but the name of a wooden structure used by Taino Indians to smoke their food. The word appeared in print for the first time in 1526. One of the characters in Treasure Island, which as based on a real pirate, was known as ‘Barbecue’, probably from his love of the dish. So there you have it.  Enjoy! (dang, now I’m hungry)

p.s. attached some pictures