Ha ha ha. That still happens in these modern times too. Few months ago my neighbor asked me to cook for his daughters 3rd birthday. The birthday was at a localish park in Penn Valley. Since I was cooking chicken for about 50 people I took my ranch kettle. Besides the party going dads there were non-party fellas that were standing around fully impressed with the size of the ranch.
Some of the questions/comments I got:
Could you fit a whole pig on that?
Is that really a Weber?
Looks like the mothership...Take me to your leader!