Musicians are used to performing under pressure. Crowds of thousands screaming as you dash around a stage, all the while making sure you put on a show that they will love. For one rocker, that pressure onstage gives him a reason to do something offstage that helps him calm down after the wild nights of singing: He barbecues.
And rain, wind and hail wouldn’t stop him from making sure that his local Los Angeles homeless shelter got the food to feed those that walked through its doors. Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl spent 24 hours at the Hope the Mission’s Trebek Center in California, preparing, seasoning, cooking and serving up everything from brisket to ribs, Grace Ancheta told Today reporters. She works as the director of development for the shelter.
“(Dave) arrived around 3 in the afternoon, and then he was in our kitchen,” she said. “He was prepping the meat, he was cutting it up and he was there until he put it in the smoker.” “The meat didn’t go into the smoker until midnight that night because he’s like, ‘Oh, it has to season and it has to do this,'” Ancheta said. “He’s definitely a craftsman when it comes to that, and then he spent the night.”
Singer Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters prepares a barbecue for a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo by Hope the Mission
Grohl and others took shelter during the night as a storm brought rain and hail to the area. The food finally was done the following day, nearly 24 hours after he started the barbecue. Grohl’s goal was to finish the food in time for dinner the next day. But he didn’t stop at just cooking the food. “He actually served to our guests, he came out and was very gracious and took pictures with the people that recognized him,” Ancheta said.
He wanted no glory for it, he was like, ‘I just want to do this for you guys and give back in that way.'”
The humble front man told Ancheta and others at the shelter that he finds barbecuing as a way to relax after the stress of performing. “Whenever he comes off of work or anything else, that’s what he wants to do,” Ancheta said. “He wants to cook for people.” “And by the way”, she said, “It was amazing. It’s the best barbecue we’ve had.”
Singer Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters shows off his barbecue that he made for a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo by Hope the Mission
In a 2019 essay for cooking magazine Bon Appetit, Grohl wrote:
The process of making music is a lot like cooking for a crowd: You create a recipe as you would a song. You prepare a meal as you would record in a studio. And you serve it as you would perform live. When people come back for seconds, well, that’s your encore.”
Watch below to see Grohl in action on the grill.
