Texas is a big mystery to me still. It's been eight months since we moved to Austin and I'm still surprised or confused by something almost every day.  Take cowboys and gauchos for example. I always thought gaucho was just cowboy in Spanish but it turns out I was very wrong. Evidently there is a big difference in culture, food, and lifestyle of Texas cowboys and South American gauchos

I found out about my mistake on the way to a festival put on by The Wine and Food Foundation of Texas a couple of months ago. Cowboys and Gauchos was a one day festival at a ranch-style venue a few miles out of town. There was promise of all you can eat meats and flowing bottles of Texas wine. How could we say no?

On the way out to the festival my husband set me straight on the cowboys vs. gauchos thing. Being a native Texan he got pretty worked up over me not knowing the difference. I thought it was a pretty easy mistake to make, but what do I know?

I bet you want me to stop boring you with my story so you can see the pictures of carnage don't you?


Are you happy now? No?


Still not satisfied? Wow. I thought I was weird...


Poor little piggy. He was pretty tasty though.

We weren't disappointed. There was enough meat available to feed at least a few packs of wolves. We had meaty bison sliders, spit-roasted Brazilian sausage and quail dripping with smoky juices, whole roasted pig (buried and smoked in a pile of wood shavings for hours), and of course the lamb and pig splayed out above. It certainly wasn't barbeque.  But it was tasty.


Along with the meat there was an entire room with booths for various Texas wineries (yes they actually grow wine in Texas. Fascinating, I know...) so plenty of people were getting sloshed on that fine Sunday afternoon.


Probably helped liven up the dance floor - there was no shortage of dancing to the country/western music in the main hall. Adding to the experience were the huge live Oak trees around the property, the girls in beautiful dresses and cowboy boots, and the smoke from roasting meat lingering in the air. Quite an experience.

4 comments

1. Tracy Joyner Bru on August 9, 2011 at 11:48 AM

   Tell Dan I didn't know the difference between Cowboys and Gauchos either, so there (and I'm a native). Loved the carnage, I'm hungry now :)

    
2. CoffellC on August 11, 2011 at 5:29 AM

   Carnage was interesting and it looked like fun! Were you in the Medina area? What is the difference between a cowboy and a gaucho? I've lived in Texas over 40 years and I don't know :)

    
3. 36iquit on September 9, 2011 at 6:48 PM

   What the hell was that first thing? An armadillo?

    
4. Unknown on June 2, 2014 at 11:31 PM

   This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
   - Scuba diving in Indonesia