Table Talk: Smoke signals and mixed messages
Thyron Mathews with the T&T tent hands out samples of his ribs during the opening day of SmokeSlam at Tom Lee Park May 16, 2024. SmokeSlam has paused its 2026 festival. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Ellen Chamberlain
Ellen Chamberlain is a global citizen who is happy to call Memphis her forever home. The Michigan native has worked in media for nearly 25 years as a radio broadcaster, journalist and ghostwriter. As The Daily Memphian’s food and restaurant writer, she gives readers inside perspectives of their favorite restaurants and the people behind them, suggestions for the best bites around town and the latest food news from in and around Shelby County.
What began as a question of logistics has turned into something much bigger: a city divided over tradition, turf and what happens when two barbecue festivals ask Memphis to pick a side. With SmokeSlam pausing in 2026 and hinting at a “unified” return, ostensibly with the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the confusion — and frustration — many locals and competitors have felt over the last few years is back into the open.
When I first began visiting Memphis many years ago, I didn’t understand exactly what “Memphis in May” meant. Was it a barbecue festival? A music festival? Was it an overarching name for a series of celebrations encompassing the entire month? My visits never seemed to coincide with the celebration.
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