The idea of writing a book about North Carolina barbeque came naturally for one Chapel Hill couple. It came to them during lunch one day.

John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed made a recent appearance on “Who’s Talking Today” with D.G. Martin to explain how they came up with the idea.
 
The couple teamed up to write “Holy Smoke, the Big Book of North Carolina Barbeque,” which traces the origins of barbeque in the Tar Heel state, the heated rivalry between Eastern and Piedmont styles and detailed instructions on how to cook it from home. It also profiles some of the people who cook barbeque for a living, and looks at the past and the future of the food in the Tar Heel state.

John’s years of traveling all over North Carolina and tasting the state’s best food truly paid off.

It took about 18 months to write the book, but in fact, he says they started working on it for years before they even realized it.

John Shelton and Dale Volberg Reed has collaborated on other books, including “1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the South” and “Cornbread Nation 4: The Best of Southern Food Writing.”