What do you think?
Rate this book
Fork on the Road: 400 Cities/One Stomach
A seasoned comedian’s love letter to America’s food curiosities
the regional cuisines, the culinary oddities, the weird and the wonderful
Mark DeCarlo is a [modern-day] Groucho Marx.” PEOPLE
Whether it be fish ice cream, kudzu tempura, or even sausage, Mark DeCarlo always wonders, Who the hell thought to eat this stuff the first time?” We find out in this hilarious celebration of the genesis of America’s most creative and idiosyncratic food traditions, and the people who keep these food traditions alive.
Join the master comedian on his journey across the United States to visit these people and their foods in their natural habitatsplaces like the French Quarter of New Orleans, lush Maui resorts, and the Annual Road Kill Cook-off Festival in West Virginia. From the obvious and beloved (Buffalo wings, Boston clam chowder, hush puppies, and strawberry shortcake) to the bizarre and, well, beloved by some (Rocky Mountain oysters, fried rattlesnake, scrapple, and deep fried Twinkies), DeCarlo takes readers on a rollicking tour of the people and places behind America’s greatest food inventions.
Each chapter features the story behind a particular food (moosehead soup, anyone?) and the people who love it. Signature recipes, snapshot photos from the road, along with Road Rules” on how to discover the real America all spice up the travelogue. It's a love letter to America’s culinary curiosities, providing armchair travelers with a tour of the wackiest and kitschiest food festivals, delicacies, and people this country has to offer.
FROM THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
Consider the oyster. Unopened, dirty, and habitually covered with muddy, green crap. If you didn’t know that it was hollow and contained a tasty glob of salty protein, would you ever guess that this rock was edible?
Well . . . somebody did. Deep in the recesses of time, some caveman or beach-dwelling ape not only discovered that oysters aren’t rocks . . . but that they’re tastyas long as you’ve got Tabasco and a date for the night. But for every oyster,’ success story, there are thousands of casualties that will forever remain unknown. History is written by the survivors.
A Fork on the Road celebrates those survivors and their progeny: It’s about the kinds of people who will spend 30% of their yearly salary building a BBQ Trailer with a homemade logo painted in flames on the side just to win a $50 contest 500 miles from home. It’s about the third generation pie maker who is as dull as a hammer until the conversation comes around to cracker” versus pastry” shells. It’s about the millions of people around the country who call themselves foodies’as if the rest of us exist simply on air and water. . . .
278 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 29, 2012
This was, at best, a 3 star book until the last chapter. You've probably read at least one like it before - wocka-wocka travel host tells you about regional food specialties and his adventures on the way to chow down. Good, but forgettable. The last chapter raised its overall rating to a 4 star for me, maybe because it wasn't trying so hard to be wacky. In the last chapter, you finally 'meet' the author. He finally becomes someone other than "hey, I'm the talking head from your tv!" A worthwhile read for armchair travel.
February 10, 2013
What can I say? I loved watching Mark on the Travel Channel visit different areas and talk about food. He was my inspiration to watch other similar shows (Bourdain). I absolutely loved this book! Mark takes the reader on a journey to some of the places he visited, shares some of his most favorite places and food and just gives really good advice! Plus kudos for using a line from Star Wars!
For the rest of the review, visit my book blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.co...
For the rest of the review, visit my book blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.co...
May 4, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I enjoy cooking, reading cookbooks, and reading about cooking so this book was perfect for me. Not only was it enjoyable to read, I also learned some very important facts, like if you feed red pistacios to a zombie it will break the trance and he will die. Knowing that little factoid could save your life. A fun book with great recipes too.
May 1, 2015
great travel/cookbook!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews