Baptisms happen in Alabama. Mainly during lunch and dinner time. Every man, woman, and child imaginable in the state performs a baptism in her or his life. 

Before we get into religious doctrine debate, Restaurant Fiction needs to define what it considers to be a baptism. They involve taking two or all five of your fingers, stripping a moist piece of slow cooked chicken or pork off the rump or leg and plunging it in a mayonnaise based sauce with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, black pepper and salt. 

After receiving a little taste of heaven, the shreds of chicken and pork live a good life in between a hamburger bun or white bread with a side of coleslaw and dill pickles.

And then they meet the tummy gods.

This type of religious experience happens all the time in a BBQ shack in Tuskegee, Alabama. It looks like a historic juke joint from a distance but when one comes closer, the intoxicating smells of charred bacon changes one tune from getting down to dance to eat.

Barbecue originated in African and Caribbean countries and has been one of Alabama’s main go-to’s in the ways of how it cooks its food for centuries.

It’s an aged old tradition that welcomes all. Just one note, don’t go to a barbecue joint on a first date, but if you do and it goes well, then, that’s a very good sign for a future relationship.