Interviewers: Anna Martin and Andrew Busch
Location: Sam’s Barbecue- Austin, Texas
This interview was originally produced through a collaboration of the American Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin, The Central Texas Barbecue Association, and The Southern Foodways Alliance. Fieldwork coordinator: Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt
This interview was originally produced through a collaborative effort of the American Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin, The Central Texas Barbecue Association, and The Southern Foodways Alliance.
Fieldwork coordinator: Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt
It is shared with Foodways Texas as part of a collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance to document food stories in Texas.
Waunda Mays, daughter of Dan Mays, has been working at Sam’s Barbecue in East Austin since her father purchased the restaurant in 1978. The restaurant, one of Austin’s oldest African American barbecue restaurants, has been around since the 1940s. The Mays family purchased the restaurant from Dan’s cousin Sam, the original proprietor of Sam’s. She was a school bus driver before beginning work at the family business. A fire destroyed Sam’s in 1992, but loyal customers led an effort to rebuild the neighborhood barbecue institution. Waunda’s not shy about disclosing the primary ingredients in her family’s barbecue: love. She reiterated that love is the most important part of Sam’s barbecue at every opportunity. Austin’s East side community seems to agree, as do many tourists and other Austinites. Patrons come from all around the world to sample Sam’s barbecue, including the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan and Richard Roundtree, the original Shaft. The brisket is Sam’s specialty, and the restaurant stays open until four o’clock in the morning.
