Alton Brown

[bleedorange]

Alton Brown has a new book coming out and here is a nice interview with him on AV Club. If I were making a best television shows of the decade list, Good Eats would easily be in my top ten.

 

My favorite part:

 

AVC: The “foodie” culture has really exploded since the show started, and it seems that people are more and more looking for those types of things. It feels like rabbit is a lot more accessible today.

 

AB: Well they’re not as obscure as they once were, that is for certain. But you know, I never take fans into consideration when making Good Eats. Ever. I completely make Good Eats for me. I don’t care about them. I mean, I care about them, I want people to watch the show and like the show, but I’m not going to allow their wishes and desires to change what I do. If I make it and they like it, great, but I’d say the same thing about Food Network. I don’t care if they like it, either. I make it for me, and that’s how it stays pure. That’s how I’ve stayed on for 10 years, is that every single episode is an artistic endeavor from one little sick, twisted, obsessed little guy, and that’s me.

 

So knowing, for instance, if fans will accept this ingredient or that ingredient, I don’t care. I care about it not being a product that Food Network wouldn’t want to use because it wouldn’t rate well, because my main job is to make TV shows that rate well. But I’ve fought for certain ingredients and gotten them through. We did a parsnip show this year. Well, it’s taken me three years to get the okay to do a parsnip show, because it hasn’t been mainstream enough. Or you know, how exciting can a parsnip be? But one of my things is to say, “Look, give it to me. I’ll make parsnips, you’ll line up for an evening of parsnips by the time I’m done.” I think every food story is interesting—there are no boring foods to me. So I come at it from the view that a food is not more exciting or less exciting because it’s obscure.

[bobbob1313]

Great interview, thanks for sharing.

[KevinG]

Alton Brown is the best.

[bjorn_skurj]

That he is. I have learned quite a bit from his programs.

[KevinG]

I have the Good Eats theme as the ring on my phone.

 

I met him a couple of times too. He was shorter then I thought and he smelled like cigars.

[bobbob1313]

He was shorter then I thought and he smelled like cigars.

 

I see both of these things as positives.

[MunkyKayse]

I have the Good Eats theme as the ring on my phone.

 

I met him a couple of times too. He was shorter then I thought and he smelled like cigars.

 

How short is short? And what brand of cigar?

 

My dad had the honor of meeting him in Chicago, and incorrectly informed him that my aunt was a huge fan of his. It was actually me, not my aunt. I still haven't forgiven my dad for that one.

[austrya]

I love his show more for the sheer nerdiness of it over the actual food though. I love when he gets all sciency and stuff.

 

I tried lentils once because he made them look cool. Turns out they taste like dirt, but at least I tried them.

[KevinG]

I love his show more for the sheer nerdiness of it over the actual food though. I love when he gets all sciency and stuff.

 

I tried lentils once because he made them look cool. Turns out they taste like dirt, but at least I tried them.

 

if you are talking his lentil soup you must have made it wrong or did something wrong. Because that soup is fing awesome.