FESTIVAL | ALBUQUERQUE
A hot take: Get spicy at the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show
Published
The National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show will turn up the heat Friday, Feb. 27, through Sunday, March 1, at Sandia Resort and Casino.
“It’s really just a celebration of all things spicy,” Mark Masker, president and owner of the show, said.
The show features products from New Mexico and beyond, and lets attendees test their tastebuds.
“(The exhibitors) sell thousands of products, ranging from hot sauces, barbecue sauces and various types of spice rubs from cultures all over the world, to candies, nuts, jams, jellies,” Masker said.
“If you walk the floor at the show, you could get something spicy for every step of a meal,” he said.
The show is a global affair, including a company from Nepal called Bindu Bites, Masker said, but New Mexico sets the standard for spicy food, and that standard is high, he said.
“I like to think that we engage people’s imaginations as to the possibilities of what can be done,” Masker said.
The National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show also presents the Scovie Awards, honoring the best in spicy foods and hot sauces.
“People take a great deal of pride in what they make,” Masker said, “and they take a great deal of pride in entering the Scovies.”
One of the show’s exhibitors, Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Co., grew The Carolina Reaper and Pepper X, recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s hottest peppers.
Masker said to get a range of heat levels available at the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, head to Currie’s booth.
“Just ask for the hottest thing he has,” Masker said. “That’ll usually get you scorched.”
The show began 37 years ago and while it has grown to include international exhibitors, it has remained rooted in New Mexico.
“New Mexico is ground zero for chilehead culture in the United States,” Masker said.
“I think the show really couldn’t have a home anywhere else,” he said. “It would be an injustice for it.”
Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow from the New Mexico Local News Fellowship program. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.
