I’ve been enjoying Alton Brown’s work for years, because I nearly always learn something from episodes of his show, Good Eats. Even when his MacGyver-Mythbusters cooking hacks go a bit too far, it’s at least entertaining television.
Last week, I got a chance to talk to Brown, who the Food Network has signed through 2011. Here’s an edited transcript containing the most interesting parts of our conversation. (The feature story, with biographical information and background and such, is here.)
On the telephone, Brown was even more energetic than you might have guessed from his show. He talks really fast, and I got the impression his well-trained mouth was trying to catch up to a brain in overdrive.
I found him quite candid for a major television personality (a label that he steadfastly rejects). Here’s hoping the network gives him the resources to tackle some more serious, in-depth food issues, which he appears interested in tackling.
Very nice article. It’s been read by quite a few people at the GEFP message board: http://goodeats.dyndns.org/
Well done.
MikeMenn
#1 Good Eats Aficionado
Great interview. I’d love to be able to have a few beers with Alton and pick his brain for a while. And although he won’t come out and say what his “non-neutral opinions” are, you can pretty much glean them from his shows, particularly the two Feasting on Asphalt seasons.
As for his show in NF, I’m totally bummed about it. By the time I found out about it the tickets were long gone. Mr. Galarneau, you wouldn’t happen to have a few extras sitting around, would you?
Props from the Good Eats Fan Page! That’s as close to a gold medal in AB coverage as one can get, so thanks, Mike.
Dave, no deal on the ducats. A bunch went on sale, I’m sure, but the high-rollers get a bunch, too, as with most casino events.
I was tempted to hang around outside anyway. Alton bet me $5 that no one in Western New York would recognize him on the street. Sounded to me like a good way to make $5.
“I was tempted to hang around outside anyway. Alton bet me $5 that no one in Western New York would recognize him on the street. Sounded to me like a good way to make $5.”
I was thinking the same thing when I read how he thinks that no one recognizes him in public. Hey if no one else is bugging him then I have more time to get autographs myself.