You couldn't leave Owensboro without sampling its world famous barbecue could do that.

The city hosts the International Barbecue Festival every May, but you can try their specialty any time of the year.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to three places in town that are favorites among locals and tourists alike.

As we go on the road.

The this is barbecue country where we are, and it's old school, traditional barbecue country.

For John Baughman, barbecue is a family tradition.

My great great grandfather, Pappy, he was a blacksmith.

Blacksmithing turned to barbecuing.

And in 1918, Old Hickory was born.

It's been more about pride.

You want to make your dad proud and continue what he built.

He really took it to another level.

Across town at Moonlight Barbecue.

In another example of generations passing on the torch.

My grandfather bought a restaurant here in 1963.

I've been working here since grade school.

I work here my whole life.

Moonlight, well known for its massive buffet where you can try a little bit of everything.

The recipes that you're eating here, the food you're eating here is like the heritage of Owensboro.

It's a heritage of our Bosley family.

That heritage includes mutton and burr goo.

Two dishes you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere but Owensboro.

Mutton is really a signature dish for Davis County.

Burger is a stew, and it's major mutton, beef and chickens.

Owensboro Being an old sheep crossing, that's kind of how mutton came to be.

Is it Owensboro?

Dave Kirk says today's culinary landscape of the city dates back to the Welsh immigrants who settled here with their sheep.

They would take them down the Ohio River and then they would bring them back and of course they would make wool.

Out of honey.

I mean, if you grew up in Owensboro, all you grew up around chopped mutton and sliced mutton.

Rex Lloyd is the new guy in town.

Old South Barbecue opened just shy of 30 years ago.

Have a lot of joy in providing the Southern comfort.

Food that includes something you don't always find at a barbecue restaurant.

We have a lot of people enjoying the fried chicken every day, seven days a week, go through a lot of fried chicken, even over a barbecue restaurant.

These three helped make Owensboro famous for its cultural tradition of hickory smoked barbecue.

Everything's unique.

They're all in different parts of.

The city, and visitors often aim to hit all three.

We're all similar, but different.

It's an art.

I would call it an art that John Foreman took to cable television when he won barbecue Pitmasters back in 2013.

And what really set us apart over the years, our attention to detail.

There's little things.

He's even created his own sauces.

One inspired by Owensboro is Bourbon Heritage.

We call it bourbon Kid.

We're really proud of it.

The food that you're eating here at moonlight, the food that's on the buffet, that's the food that you had on your grandmother's table.

Patrick Bosley says it's not just about the food, but the event and experience of eating barbecue.

When you come in here and you sit down and you're visiting with family and you see friends and you talk to other tables, that's the dining experience that I think is being lost in America.

But it's found here in Owensboro through hard work and perseverance carried on for decades.

Our cooks come in 5:36 a.m. in the morning to put a buffet out at 11 a.m. We've been cooking all night long.

So while you're sleeping, we've been here cooking.

There's always variables.

The weather, you know.

How hard is it outside?

How cold is it outside?

What's it going to get down to tonight?

All these things play a part in what you're doing.

And it's not only for the people who come to Owensboro or South.

Also, Carter's taking their barbecue on the road.

But that's enjoyable.

And we look forward to those challenges, especially the large ones.

We do what we do and we love what we do.

A sentiment echoed by all three barbecue mainstays.

We become an ambassador for barbeque.

We become an ambassador for Owensboro.

And I don't take that lightly.

And I think.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.