SAN ANTONIO – The 7th Annual Texas Kosher BBQ Championship sizzled through Sunday afternoon on the city’s North Side.
- Largest of its kind in Texas
- Individual teams cooked for a cause
- H-E-B provided official kosher meat
The largest Texas kosher BBQ competition brought out thousands of people to get a taste of all-you-can-eat chicken, salmon, brisket and beans.
“It’s phenomenal, it brings the entire community together, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It really brings people together to have a good time, eat food and just enjoy,” Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham of Congregation Agudas Achim said.
About 20 teams joined in on the event to not only share their food, but support and give back to the community.
“We really come out to promote an election drive for the homeless,” said Howie Nestel with team Shark Bite BBQ. “I’ve been doing that for 23 years, called Gotcha Covered. We collect over 35,000 pounds of donations.”
In addition to individual teams cooking for a cause, the championship itself picks a beneficiary each year and this year proceeds went to Morgan’s Wonderland, San Antonio’s ultra-accessible amusement park.
“We do this because we know that it helps,” said organizer Robi Jalnos. “It’s a good way to help and we know it’s a fun thing to have. Giving back to the community, that’s what we’re all about and we want to do that for many many years.”
Local grocery retailer H-E-B helped provide over 2,000 pounds of official kosher meat for the event.