Growing up along the border, barbecue was always a part of Alma Vera’s life.
Meat was the family business. Her father has owned Vera’s King O Meats in Edinburg, TX, for almost 55 years. But it wasn’t until 2012, when Vera began helping out a friend, that she first competed.
“He entered us into the Texas Cook’em barbecue competition,” She said. “So me and our friends just got together and we did this cook off and we caught the bug on that day and we never looked back. We’ve been competing ever since then.”
Alma Vera. Courtesy photo
Vera says she enjoys cooking pretty much everything.
“Typically when it’s a competition, you know, we cook the brisket, the pork ribs and every now and then the pork butt – it’s not too big in Texas, the pork butt – and chicken,” she Vera said.
“And then, steak. We only have one steak competition down here, one time per year. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll get promoters to do a few more.”
Her father is a big influence she said, having grown up around the meat market and celebrating with a carne guisada, or by barbecuing with friends and family.
“I remember going away to college – I went to Our Lady of the Lake University – and they used to have, you know, they would call it ‘grilling’ over there. And there’d be hot dogs and hamburgers,” she said. “I was like, ‘what is this? This is not barbecue.’
And my dad would come up from the Valley to visit me. And we had a pool at the dorms there and with a little barbecue pit, and he would break out with the fajitas and the chicken and the steak and the sausage. And everybody would come over like, ‘wow, this is barbecue.’ That’s how we do it in South Texas.”
Still, she had to prove she was good enough.
“My dad, you know, I think I had to earn my stripes with him. In the very beginning he was like ‘ah, you can’t do it, you can’t do it,'” Vera said. “But now, through my mother – because, you know, he’s your typical Hispanic male… They don’t talk very much. But I guess he communicates through my mom. And my mom’s like, ‘your father really loved the steak’ or ‘your father really loved the cabrito and he was very impressed with the brisket.’
So, I hear it now from my dad and like if I make something to eat or I’m like ‘hey I’m gonna turn on the grill. Do you want anything?’ he’ll put in his order right away. So I know that he’s kind of happy that I’ve gone into it and I’m enjoying it. And I know that he’s proud of it even if he won’t vocalize it. Cause, you know, older generation, they’re not grand communicators.”
Alma Vera works the grill. Courtesy photo
Vera says more and more women are joining the competition circuit.
“When I first started off in 2012, there wasn’t very many. Usually it was the wives of the cooks that were out there. But, recently I’ve seen a few teams. Like the She Grillers just started. They asked me to cook with them one week and I did it,” she said.
Vera also remembers MadamBBQ, also of the Rio Grande Valley.
“She started cooking a couple of years ago and she does it on her own and she’s really good. As a matter of fact, when I went to the World Series of Barbecue last year, she was one of the judges there. So, you know, she’s out there and she’s really representing our area,” Alma said.
“So the numbers are increasing and they’re out there. It’s just that they’re not as prevalent as men, but they’re out there. And I think you’ll see the numbers grow as we go along.”
