Alex and Sinead host a BBQ for 12 on their terrace in Shoreditch this Wednesday at 8pm.

As we make our way through the long summer weeks of the Pacific Ocean, we pause for a special celebration of that summer institution – the BBQ.

No one is really sure where the term barbecue originated. The conventional wisdom is that the Spanish, upon landing in the Caribbean, used the word barbacoa to refer to the natives’ method of slow-cooking meat over a wooden platform. By the 19th century, the culinary technique was well established in the American South, and because pigs were prevalent in the region, pork became the primary meat at barbecues.

Our longitude line this week celebrates this tradition with a brief visit to the beautiful islands of Hawaii. The Hawaian luau or feast traditionally features a whole Kalua Pig cooked in an underground oven called an imu. The pig is placed in a fire pit with hot rocks to keep the cooking going even when the fire has died down. After 6 or 7 hours of cooking, the pig is served, the meat so tender it falls off the bone. Extra brownie points for anyone who manages to slow roast a whole pig!

Other countries barbecue in their own style: Korean barbecue features thin slices of beef or pork cooked and served with rice. Argentina has asado, or marinade-free meat cooked in a smokeless pit. The southern Brazilians share giant skewers of meat called churrasco.

And anyone who has ever been to the Notting Hill carnival will know that the Jamaicans’ ode to BBQ is hot and spicy jerk chicken.

And of course, there’s Mongolian barbecue, which is neither barbecue nor of Mongolian origin but rather a type of stir-fry recently invented in Taiwan.

So from the American South to the Big Island of Hawaii and the outer reaches of Mongolia, come BBQ with us!