Road Food- America Through its Restaurants

Road Food is an engaging look at America through the eyes of its restaurants.

In the latest edition of the book, Jane and Michael Stern give a character portrait of restaurants, diners, cafes, eateries across America, and the food they serve, based on their uniquely local flair. On the surface it is a basic guide; the address, phone number, prices, and website are provided for over a thousand restaraunts (diners, pubs etc ). But going deeper, in describing that flair the authors take us on a trip through American culture and culinary traditions.

   The descriptions are engaging and border on literary quality prose. Good descriptions are important considering there are no photographs, but the imagery truly brings the food to life on paper. Like this description of the banana cream pie at the Coffee Cup Cafe in Iowa:
"It quivers precariously as the waiter sets it down on the table, the custard jiggling like not-quite-set Jell-O below foamy white meringue. The crust doesn't break when touched with a fork, it flakes. The whole experience...is what we imagine it would be like to eat pastries on the moon....for the work 'light' barely does justice to the refinement of this piece of pie."

 Or characterizing atmosphere, like Joco's Steak House in California, a place where "country folk whose ides of fun is to come to this tavern, quaff beers under taxidermized animal heads, and eat red meat...truly a kind of beef frowners' hell, where smells of roasting meat permeate the air."

 

  If you live in a major city you do have a higher chance of using this as an actual "guide." Nevermind if you can make it to a restaurant, the criteria, or if your favorite place didn't make the list: it is a pleasant read about culinary traditions around america. If Peter Jenkinks "A Walk Across America" described the country through interacting with its people, "Road Food" does so by interacting with its culinary culture. It not only made me want to cook, but encouraged me to seek out the ordinary local places in my own rural area.

 

     Jane and Michael Stern are experts in this field with well over a dozen books on roadside eateries, written over 40 years. You can read more at their website https://roadfood.com