Doug Worgul

Doug Worgul (born 1953) is a Kansas City author and journalist regarded as a leading chronicler of Kansas City barbecue. His book The Grand Barbecue (2001) is a definitive history of the city’s barbecue culture, and his novel Thin Blue Smoke is set in a fictional KC barbecue joint.

Biography

Worgul moved to Kansas City in 1989 and wrote for The Kansas City Star from 1996 to 2006 as a writer, book and features editor, and editor of Star Magazine.¹ In 2001 he published The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue (Kansas City Star Books), which became a standard reference on the subject.¹

From 2010 to 2020 he served as Director of Marketing at Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que.¹ A widely cited expert on American barbecue, he has appeared on national programs, and his debut novel, Thin Blue Smoke (UK 2009; US 2012), is set in a Kansas City barbecue restaurant.¹

Within the KS.City cluster, Worgul is the proposed co-curator of the Heritage Recognition Year-1 program honoring KC barbecue lineage.²

Legacy

Worgul has done as much as any writer to document and dignify Kansas City barbecue — its origins, its pitmasters, and its place in the city’s identity — bridging journalism, history, and fiction.

See also

• joes-kansas-city-bar-b-que
• henry-perry

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Doug Worgul,” Wikipedia — born September 13, 1953, in St. Johns, Michigan; moved to KC 1989; KC Star (1996–2006); The Grand Barbecue (2001); Director of Marketing at Joe’s KC (2010–2020); Thin Blue Smoke (UK 2009, US 2012). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. KS.City Heritage Recognition Y1 planning — Worgul proposed as co-curator. [Internal program note.] ↩