National BBQ Cup

Ranked #10, Cumming, GA

What put Cumming, GA, on this list is its incredible ratio of barbecue restaurants to residents. There is a barbecue restaurant for nearly every 1,000 residents (based on numbers from Yelp and the U.S. Census). It just doesn't get much easier to find 'cue than that. And while the restaurants may not have national prestige, locals find them mouthwatering good. It's their little secret, and it might just get out.

Cumming is hosting the National BBQ Cup in November. The winner of the pro division of this Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event can pocket $4,000 in prize money. Cumming is located at the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains and just minutes from Lake Sidney Lanier.

Original Article on Livability.com

As a nation, we are obsessed with food. Doubters need look no farther than the immense popularity of televised cooking shows for proof.

As Southerners, we are passionate about barbecue, as evidenced by the number of vehicles parked at hole-in-the-wall 'cue joints across the South.

Given an obsession with food and a passion for barbecue, what better recipe for a destination tourist event than a nationally recognized cooking competition?

Cumming got its first taste of the National BBQ Cup: Que'n in Cumming earlier this month, and it was enough to leave mouths watering for more.