Sunday, July 30, 2006

Feasting on Asphalt--another missed opportunity

I think I've said this prior to now, but it seems that everywhere I look now I see my dissertation topic staring me in the face. Is this like that joke where God keeps sending flood victims rescue craft and they keep waiting for God himself to come down and pick them up?

Anyway, the latest incarnation of my unfulfilled million dollar idea is Alton Brown's new Food Network mini-show Feasting on Asphalt. It debuted last night at 9 pm (one hour) and will play for, I think, the next three weeks. The premise is that Brown and his small band of TV producers and camera men will travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, keeping OFF of the Interstates and taking what the road gives them--food and lodging wise.

Since this is a cooking show, the focus is on the food, but he doesn't just pop in, eat, and drive away. At least in this first episode, he hung out a bit with the owners, got some kitchen tips on how to make real, authentic local food, gives you history on the development of American roads and the service industries (restaurants) that sprung up to deal with them.

Certainly, Brown won't be spending time at McDonalds on this trip and probably won't be spending much time describing the history of franchise restaurants, but if you leave that (admittedly important) aspect out, he is touching on the subjects that I began writing about.

That is why I am putting this post about the show on WWYW?! instead of over on WWYG?! The subject is spiritually connected to what I am placing here.

I highly recommend that you give up an hour of your weekend to watch this show. You can tape/DVR it if you are usually out of the house on Saturday nights.

If you don't believe me, check out the website. It's well constructed, has nice features, and give you a good overview of what's going on.

1 Comments:

Blogger David said...

A news article sent to me by my brother MSquared fits right into this post's sense of history and ideas that I have some connection to.

This article talks about the National Road, small towns, and even Zanesville. In the most recent phase of my research on the Interstate project, I focused (to a degree) on Zanesville, OH, home of the famous "Y" bridge.

I'll get that part of the story transcribed someday.

4:12 PM, July 30, 2006  

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