27th Annual Giant National Barbecue Battle

This was our second year attending The Giant National Barbecue Battle in Washington D.C. thanks to Liquified Creative who gave us Media passes to attend the event. I have to tell you, this is one of the best events that we've attended in the area. We went 2 yrs ago and had a great time.

When we first got there we talked to a couple of the people running the Famous Dave's restaurant. Holy smokes there was so much good food there! We were so bummed we hadn't been there the day before because Dave had been on-site. And can I just say, it was awesome seeing a woman at one of the bigger grills! She looked like she was having a blast.

Part of the plan when we go down to this Battle is to go with an empty stomach. There's SO much to sample throughout the entire event. Giant has several tents (extremely long tents) that you can get in line for. Now, you have to be prepared. The Giant tents have long lines, but always worth it!

Fred was in barbecue heaven. He loves barbecued food more than most people. While I'm not a sauce fan, I am a rub fan. I'm always searching for a new rub for Fred to put on our ribs. This is a great place to try some out. This is also the perfect way to try foods that you typically wouldn't.

For example, while I like hummus, I've never seen Fred try it. We were able to sample the Sabra flatbread and he literally said to me, "I want to try this recipe at home." Jaw. Drop! I couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth. We grabbed the recipe card and I'm looking forward to him trying it out.

Also, if you're anything like me, don't you want to try a sample of something before you spend money on it? I mean, there are some products out there you might buy outright. Like trail mix. All you have to do is look at what's in it to know if you'd be interested. Then there are other foods and drinks that I'm not going to spend $5 on just to take a sip or a bite and realize it's going in the trash. lol Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

While I was in line for one of the Giant tents, he ditched me for a barbecue station. The first one he went to was out of most of their food. he went to the next station, which was Dyvine BBQ and he loved their food so much he couldn't stop talking about it. Meanwhile, through one tent, I probably sampled 20 different brands. SERIOUSLY, I love going to the Battle!

Not everything is food related at The Giant National Barbecue Battle. They also had people there from the health industry. You could talk to people about nutrition, dental health, as well as day to day living. They also have 3 band stages with different artists playing throughout the day. It was so great to sit back and listen to the bands.

We also made sure to take pictures with the Planters vehicle and the Oscar Meyer one. Those are classics to check out. There's also a food booth that can't be overlooked. They have deep fried Oreos, Twinkie, Cookie Dough, and Reese's! Fred went with the singular Twinkie and I had 3 Reese's. Just...wow! I saved 2 for the boys to enjoy when we got home.

On a side note, Sundays are a great day to go, especially being there in the afternoon because they companies are trying to offload all of the samples they brought with them. They'd literally grab handfuls of their products and dump them into our bags. Thank you very much!

The next time we go I'll be taking a small, soft cooler with us. It was sweltering down there and we grabbed quite a few samples that weren't going to be good by the time we made it home: yogurt, mayo sample, and a few other drinks/food samples.

Speaking of "next time" we'll be heading down again next year. They've already set the dates of June 27th & 28th.