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By Doc Lawrence
Tailgatin’ is part of our cultural landscape, an open-air culinary ritual as Deep South as grits and red-eye gravy. While it’s tied inextricably with major events like NASCAR races, and college football, I wondered where it all began. Frank Spence, a former top Atlanta Braves executive is a respected student of Southern culinary traditions who says that “The Great Skeedadle” in 1861 “probably set the stage for the first tailgating party.”
A native of Nashville, Spence was referring to the union army retreat after the first battle of Bull Run. “Accompanied by their beautiful women, Congressmen set up colorful tents for a fancy hillside picnic to observe the assumed destruction of General Lee’s army. Unaware of the looming defeat, party wagons-the forerunners of today’s caterers- arrived loaded with picnic baskets of gourmet food, and bottles of fine French Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. Because of the panic to reach Washington’s fortified safety, the unpacked goodies were abandoned. Unloading everything from the rear of the wagons, jubilant Southern soldiers celebrated with a feast and told about the experience after the war back home.” Thus, says the ebullient Mr. Spence, “both the name and the tradition of tailgatin’ was born.”
Today, tailgating is a firmly entrenched Southern ritual that has spread like Elvis’ music throughout the nation. It is everywhere and not just college football games, but Grapefruit League baseball, NASCAR events and concerts. As thousands of veteran “Deadheads” know, some of the best feasts are at concert venues.
“Nothing beats the tailgating before a Jimmy Buffet concert,” claims PR executive Jennie Coakley. “‘Parrotheads’ know how to tailgate! Hawaiian shirts, leis, and sunglasses are de rigueur. Buffet has been performing in South Florida for decades so age doesn’t matter - all the rules go out the window. My favorite drink is the ‘Sip, Strip & Be Naked,’ made of 6 beers, 2 cans of Five Alive and a bottle of vodka - the cheaper the better.”
In Daytona Beach and places like Talladega, Alabama, NASCAR fans know how to tailgate. On a race weekend, you can walk for miles and never see half the affair. And wine has come of age. None other than Jeff Gordon is in the wine business, unveiling Gordon’s Chardonnay last year. Sonoma-based Ravenswood sponsored its first racing team last year and holds tastings at NASCAR events. Bennett Lane Winery owner Randy Lynch says “I want to turn beer guzzlers into wine drinkers—one race at a time,” While that is a pretty lofty goal for a six thousand-case California winery, Lynch has his own trump card: he owns a NASCAR West racing team emblazoned with the Bennett Lane logo. The Bennett Lane Winery team competes in the NASCAR West regional series and is currently ranked in first place. Lynch regularly hosts a parking lot tailgate feast for NASCAR fans where his award-winning wines flow and the food oftentimes prepared by his wife Lisa.
The times have really changed. Richard Childress, former driver and current owner of one of the top NASCAR racing teams, makes heralded wines at his Childress Vineyards in Lexington, North Carolina. His Victory Cuvée Champagne sparkling wine, a Chardonnay-based Blanc de Blancs Brut, is made in the traditional French Méthode Champenoise. The back label features a toast from Richard “to all your winning moments in life.” And, Food Network legend Mario Batali’s best-selling cookbook, Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style, has all you need to know about food and great wine before and during the great races.
Florida Gator fans actually tailgate on their large boats and yachts in many places in the Sunshine State. If you are a ticket-less Georgia fan, you can tailgate at the Tiger Drive In Theatre in Rabun County almost on the North Carolina border where Bulldog fans back their trucks and SUVs into one of the grassed parking spots, lay out their red yard chairs and blankets, send the kids to the play ground and treat their family and friends to fine food and drinks. Guys huddle around their radios hanging onto every dramatic word from the legendary Larry Munson while the kids are on the playground, unexposed to game day chatter and libations. The festivities continue until dark when the 1800 square foot screen lights up and fans settle down to a first run movie.
LSU plays night games in Baton Rouge and that gives the tailgaters all day to “get ready” for the game. Huge parking lots host Cajun bands playing here and there, people dancing the Cajun two-step, surrounded by the aroma of jambalaya and crawfish cooking in big pots. There’s gumbo, etouffe, boudin, andouille, fried fish, shrimp and oysters. The joie de vivre and spirit of the bayou are unforgettable.
There are some new rules for Tailgatin.’ Avoid ordinary beer, pedestrian wine and common food like hot dogs and high-fat burgers. All this is available inside the stadium and serving such low-end fare tells everyone you are lazy and a little cheap when you are likely just the opposite. Think about taste, freshness, the creative use of alcoholic beverages, and the compatibility between the food and drinks, the weather and the kind of folks you will be hosting.
Tailgatin’ is the way we celebrate down here. Go Gators, Roll Tide, Scalp ‘em Noles and Sail on Dolphins! And good luck to all those other teams and their fans I don’t have space to mention.
Doc Lawrence is a well-known travel, tourism, arts and food and wine writer whose works appear here and in many other publications throughout the country. Mr. Lawrence is CEO of Doc Lawrence Productions and the Director of Wine for the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association founded in 1954 in Paris. Contact him by email at doclawrence@docsnews.com.
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