History Channel: "American Eats"

[dropkickjeffy]

Starting this Thursday night and continuing all summer.

It's a series of one-hour shows, each focusing with laser-sharp precision on one food: burgers, chocolate, pizza, etc.

I got interviewed for the pizza show, and after three and half hours of dutifully answering questions on the minutiae of the subject, it finally dawned on me that the producers were taking this way more seriously than I was. I suspect the episodes will be pretty good, but I base that on nothing other than the singlemindedness of the man who interviewed me. And the fact that it's the History Channel.

www.historychannel.com/americaneats/video.html

Jeff

[Kim Shook]

That sounds interesting. Thanks for posting the info, Jeff. Now if I can only get the 'remind me' button to work. I am notorious for missing just the shows I want to watch and zoning out to junk!

[johnnyd]

"American Eats" reviewed by the NYT on Thursday

[srhcb]

I caught the Pizza episode last night, and while it was fairly interesting looks like it could easily have been made up from old Food Network clips.

SB

[suzilightning]

while that may be so...

by the time it ended i CRAVED a couple of thin slices... but it was 11pm and i was in my nightgown...no wonder i woke up hungry

[MarketStEl]

Boy! They start off with pizza, and judging from how cold this topic went, you'd think that was all they covered!

I haven't watched them all religiously--conflicts with other series--but I did catch the episode on hot dogs, and the barbecue episode (no doubt a repeat now) is airing as I type this.

Right now, the 'cue experts the History Channel used for the show--including Ollie Gates, Kansas City Barbecue Society executive director Carolyn Wells and Dave Worgul, author of an excellent coffee-table book on the history of Kansas City 'cue, The Grand Barbecue, among them--were reminding people that barbecuing and grilling are two different things.

As you might gather from the list of names above, Barbecue Central gets its due--as does Henry Perry, considered the father of KC barbecue restaurants.

Texas and the Carolinas also get in-depth treatment, as does the rise of the backyard "barbecue" and the role Henry Ford played in its development. But Memphis gets slighted. Sorry.

So, fellow viewer-diners, what about the other episodes in this series? How did they stack up to the initial one? The barbecue episode--that glossing over of Memphis aside--shows the History Channel's usual thoroughness.

Edited to add: Forget what I said about slighting Memphis. The last segment of the show is devoted to the big Memphis in May barbecue cook-off, the "World Series of barbecue" (though the organizers of the American Royal cook-off might dispute that title).

Edited August 25, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[Kevin72]

I caught the 'cue episode by chance and it was pretty fascinating. A little too much jumping around but I enjoyed it.