Road Food to Go

In a country as huge as the United States, you can only spend so much time on the road - if you're not a truck driver, that is. And that means that no matter how much you might like to, you will never have the time you need to thoroughly explore America's back roads and highways for authentic American road food culture. Road food culture, you wonder? That's right, everybody knows what road food is: Those memorable local small town or big city neighborhood restaurants that one has the luck to accidentally stumble across from time to time, those "greasy spoon" places where the atmosphere is informal, the bill is inexpensive, and the food is always out of this world.

That is why it's good to know that there are other folks out there willing to find these culinary folk artists for us. There are no doubt countless fine American eating guides out there, but of the dozens I have had the pleasure of leafing through, one stands out as a gastro-cultural American classic par excellence (if there is such a word). Roadfood, or to be more exact: Roadfood: The Coast-To-Coast Guide to 500 of the Best Barbecue Joints, Lobster Shacks, Ice-Cream Parlours, Highway Diners.

Jane and Michael Stern, both contributing writers to Gourmet Magazine, have spent close to two professional lifetimes at first accidentally and then systematically discovering those colorful feel-good eateries we all "know" and love, the diners and ma-and-pa joints that are as much a part of modern American mythology as the cowboy hat and the Hollywood movie. But what many of us haven't been made aware of yet is some of the all-American specialties that we had no idea even existed, much less out there waiting for us to try. Or have you ever tried Voodoo Donuts or Otto's Sausage Kitchen Special? I haven't. Not yet, anyway.

Road food has always been taken seriously by Americans on the road (too bad we can't ask Jack Kerouac about his views), but the authors behind Roadfood are obviously doing their best to get it back in the middle of the road, for the rest of us stay-at-home types, where it belongs, sort of. But whether you are on the move or only dream about it, this book is practical way to broaden your horizons. The Sterns published their first edition of Roadfood way back in 1978 and to this very day make a point of never recommending anything or any place they have not tried themselves. And when doing their research, a fulltime job as you can imagine, they have had to develop eating techniques which are anything but politically correct or healthy. They don't just eat breakfast once when doing breakfast eatery research, for instance. They eat breakfast four times, making sure they get an early start at four in the morning in order to reach all four recommendation candidates in time. The next day it's the same all over for lunch. After that it's four dinners, and so forth and so on. Now that's a lot of road in thirty years - and a whole lot more road food.

Is there a catch for being recommended in their book? Not really. These restaurants only have to offer simple, inexpensive food which reflects typical American "plain fare". And the food has to be excellent. The place only needs to be one of those popular places that the locals have been going to for years anyway, in other words. But the food doesn't necessarily have to always be hamburgers, hotdogs, pancakes, tacos, fried eggs, cherry pies or bar-b-q ribs, either (see Voodoo Donuts). Sleepy little one horse towns in Alabama or dusty crossroad stops in Nebraska, it doesn't matter where, as long as the food is good, cheap and authentic. And nothing against McDonalds and co., but if you get right down to it, wouldn't you rather eat at a place called the Yankee Pot Roast or The Dog House Sandwich Shop instead?

These two road food enthusiasts have actually driven five million miles and used up forty cars in order to offer us this near-encyclopaedic collection of road food recommendations. And of course what would a book covering such a vast and ever-changing culinary landscape be without the accompanying website? Roadfood fans can stay up-to-date with the latest discoveries or even make recommendations themselves by visiting www.roadfood.com.

And speaking of recommendations, the Stern's have a few if you are ever on the lookout for real road food on your own: 1) Whenever you pull into a new town, simply roll down the window and smell your way to the best smelling restaurant (this really works), 2) Always look where the police cars are parked, the local cops always knowing where the best place to eat are, and 3) Keep your eyes peeled for any restaurant that boasts any oversized animal figures on its rooftop, especially if the animal bears a resemblance to know celebrities. No one can explain why this is, of course.

And should none of this help you, I can recommend a tip or two myself: Always pick the place that has an old lady wearing a hairnet as cook and never order steak at a roadhouse that doesn't have any Hank Williams in the jukebox.