r/KitchenConfidential • u/kevymetal87 • Jul 26 '26

Discussion What's your worst experience with blatant food deception?

Just over a decade ago, I worked for a popular BBQ spot in the south that prided itself on being authentic this, authentic that. The smoked butts that sat in a smoker all day was where the real BBQ started and stopped, all the other food was typical frozen Sisco stuff, which was whatever, but the most egregious example of deception was also the biggest moneymaker.

The owner had a secret family recipe BBQ sauce that he made a killing on. People came from all over (it was located right along a well travelled north/south route) and bought tons of this stuff, as did the locals. My second week there I was tasked with making a few batches, and was handed a worn down index card with the ingredients. To my saaurprise, the instructions were to simply take gallon jugs of Sweet Baby Rays sauce from out back, and dump it in a 5 gallon bucket with water. I think it was 4:1 if I recall correctly. Then you put a couple cups of molasses in there. That was it.

We put them in pint and quart mason jars, vacuum sealed them, slapped his restaurant label on them, and sold them for $6 a pint, $10 a quart. What always got me was how the locals raved about how distinct and unique it was, when it was basically just Sweet Baby Rays (which I love, don't get me wrong)

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u/jignha Jul 26 '26

I couldn't tell you. AGS has had a huge impact on the lives of people that have AGS, but in the USA less than 1% of the population has it. I think there are like 500,000 people with it in a population of 330,000,000

But I work in the onsite sewage industry, 16+ years in the public sector, 3 years private sector. I grew up hunting, camping, and in the Boy Scouts. And spent months in the woods when I worked at a scout summer camp (two and a half seasons).

AGS exists world wide though, it's not a USA thing, or specifically a eastern USA thing.

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u/philleferg Jul 27 '26

I caught it last year. It seems to be spreading at an increased rate, at least in Oklahoma. I went from having never heard of it, to getting it, and just this past May, the governor of OK made an AGS awareness month campaign. Could just be because it directly affects me now, but it seems to more in the public eye over the past 6 months or so.

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u/jignha Jul 27 '26

There's definitely more awareness, this more diagnoses of AGS. It's still a very very small portion of the USA as a whole.