Carla Dail bought a pig cooker for her then-husband in 2006 and shortly after they began entering whole hog barbecue cookoffs.
The barbecue community is nothing if not welcoming, and they found that every competitor was more than willing to offer advice and share their tips and tricks with the newcomers. As you can imagine, friendships form quickly when you’re hanging out all night, cooking a pig and sharing stories–it’s one of the best things about the barbecue community in North Carolina.
Somewhere along the barbecue circuit Carla and her now ex-husband met Roy. Roy was full of wisdom, having been involved in competitive pig cooking for many years, and she always appreciated any advice he was willing to give when they competed.
Several years later, Carla and her husband divorced, and she was out of her new hobby. Knowing how much the community and competition meant to Carla, several members of her “barbecue family” reached out and encouraged her to continue competing, even offering to let her use their cookers anytime she needed.
When Roy called and asked if she’d like to assist him in a few upcoming cookoffs, she said yes without hesitation. They were a good team in competitions, and it wasn’t long before that teamwork turned into something more and they started dating. It’s been several years now and they both still enjoy the barbecue community—competing in cookoffs, judging competitions and continuing to welcome rookies to the whole hog barbecue circuit. They’re a team in competition and in life and wouldn’t have it any other way.
