Great Moments in Memphis Cultural History: Barbecue

At last Saturday's excellent Live from Memphis Li'l Film Fest, I learned how cole slaw ended up on Memphis barbecue sandwiches (via Jon W. Sparks entry, "Good Pork and Good Slaw"). The wife of barbecue entrepeneur Leonard Heuberger was the genius behind this innovation. She was running low on barbecue while her husband was running errands, so to stretch it out, she decided to put slaw on the sandwiches. Heuberger, who was German Jewish, had been preparing and serving the slaw as a side item, but it was an instant hit with customers on the sandwiches, so there it stayed.

Economics + imagination = creativity.