I have been giving this a lot of thought in terms of how our language changes and what do words really mean. The BBQ snob in me thinks initially, that BBQ has to mean burning wood or charcoal for heat, which is directly applied to the meat, alternately, a given lexicon has turned that to mean, it has to be cooked indirectly with smoke and hot air creating the cooking environment. Now we have Southern Pricdes and those electric smokers that commercial kitchens use, such as T-Rex in Berkeley. It starts to get a little blurry for me. I mean, does the BBQ that comes off a Southern Pride somehow not qualify because the wood us just used for seasoning?
Then there is the fact that we regularly accept the change in language based upon common usage. In my mind, there is a specific ideal of what BBQ is, but, if I use only that term, as a business, I do a dis-service to my bottom line, as there are many folks that do not share my ideals. I mean, is Santa Maria BBQ really BBQ at all, or is it really grilling? Heck, how many of us have really cooked in the Santa Maria area and really understand the variety of techniques that actually exist there. I just don't know anymore.
I do know what I call BBQ, and I know where I go to by it (if Charlotte and Matt let me back in after this answer) but, I am not so sure that if you cook meat in a electric smoker and it has a BBQ sauce applied, that it isn't BBQ for most people. I also have had smoked meat out of an electric smoker that had smoke flavor and a smoke ring on it, does it then become BBQ because the cook knew how to use his tools? I can get a smoke ring on a piece of meat using my oven and foil packs, does that make it BBQ? It sure stinks up my house.