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Food: A Love Story
Food, A Love Story
I really enjoyed reading American Roadside. I especially enjoyed the focus on such a large part of traveling- food. It is amazing the amount of money we spend on food. And the amount of time we spend eating it.
Ah, how I enjoy the delicacies of the road. Ice cream, hot dogs, McDonalds after McDonalds. As I spent time traveling this summer, I began to understand why we could be looked at by other countries as simply a consumer of processed food. The majority of towns off of the highway in America boast chain after chain of greasy delicacies and not much else, with the exception of a few antique shops.
On the spending chart listed in the article, out of $144,650, $40,000 was spent on groceries, $10,000 was spent on ice cream, candy and cigars. I never broke down how much I spent on food, but I can guess in a week I must have spent at least 200 to 300 on ice cream, candy, cigarettes and cheeseburgers.
I find that whenever I visit a new city, a new state, a new country, my visit always tends to revolve around food. Of course there's the occasional museum and photo op, but for the most part I could write a series of books, Eating my way through [Insert Place Here].
Some places are defined by their food. I had the opportunity to see Scarlett Johannsen's directorial debut in New York, I Love You at an advanced screening before it was cut from the film. Her story focused on a different kind of love story, one of place and of food. In the short, the place and the food define each other in a love story between a man and a hot dog (Ok, that sounds bizarre, but it's more of his desire to go to Coney Island, sit on a bench by himself, and eat a hot dog.) Coney Island is defined by Nathan's Hot Dogs in the story, much as it is in reality.
Anyways, just a little example of how places are often associated with the food we consume there. You are what you eat. Or, in the case of traveling, places are what you eat.
Man Vs. Food
I think the best possible way to absorb a certain town's culture is to eat what foods they eat. The whole idea of road trips is centered around the food along the way: barbeque, fast-food, delicious unhealthy sweets. If you don't go outside your personal norms and taste the different types of food, it's pretty much a failure of going on a road trip; much like going to Europe and eating at McDoo. Even by looking at the picture posted of Nathan's Hot Dog Stand brings back sweet memories of visiting Coney Island when I was 7 years old. Ah, so delicious! The food places are landbmarks of towns. They sum up the cultural experience that we try to absorb while traveling. Food helps establish a lasting connection from past to present.
Sort of echoing what gina
Sort of echoing what gina said, food is a wonderful comfort, especially when you're out on the open road. Food is a means of communication, an identity marker, a creator of solidarity. A lot of times i find myself reminiscing on the food i ate while traveling rather than the sights of the people. Food is something we all have in common, and we all need it to survive. No matter how good or bad it is, when you're on a road trip, there's nothing like taking a pit stop at a roadside diner. You might not even be going for the food, but the experience will certainly fill you up.
All of my vacations are
All of my vacations are centered around food more than anything, to the point where I have to think of things to do until I get hungry again. I think most people are probably the same. But the staples of American cuisine are fascinating, and their origin stories benign to bizarre. I loved Agee's focus on the hot dog more than any other part of his piece, simply because it's such an odd food, but also because he's describing an era when hot dogs were actually sometimes homemade, which you hardly ever see anymore, and most people have forgotten that they aren't solely the processed logs in packages.
Eating my way through every place I've ever been
I love eating. And I love traveling. But most of all, I love combining the two. I have found that over the years, my most vivid memories of traveling are of what I ate. I can't remember all of the details of who I met while I was traveling, the names of the places I visited, or what the hotel I stayed at looked like. But I do remember exactly what I ate, where I ate it, and how it tasted.
I think that food is indicative of culture, and that certain places definitely advertise their tourist appeal with food. Who would ever visit Paris without buying crepes and croissants, or go to New York without sampling bagels and pizza? Eating local food is part of the whole travel experience that we're after when we take on the tourist role. When I lived in England for a few months, I used experiencing culture as an excuse for indulging in chips with mayo dip, beans for breakfast, fried toast, and lots and lots of cider. Those Brits really know how to eat. Ok, I'm getting distracted. The point is, I know I've had a good vacation when I return having gained at least 5 pounds.