I've found Alton's book to be very entertaining and enjoyable, fill with tales and facts about his trip along the length of the Mississippi,stopping and eating at all kinds of interesting places along the way. They travel from Louisiana up to Minnesota recounting the stops they made and the peoples and cooks they met.I liked the layout of the book,the notebook entries and the photos. As for the recipes I found most of them to be simple,easy to make roadfood..I consider this book more travelogue than a recipe book and as I said i it's very entertaining,enjoyable and i would recommend it to people who like food and travel. ( )

[Amy] A couple of years ago, it was determined that we did not watch enough television (except in DVD form) to justify paying for cable television anymore, so away it went. This decision has caused very few regrets, but one thing I do miss very much: Good Eats. Upon my first contact with this show, it only took about a quarter of an episode before I was a full-blown convert to the Cult Of Brother Alton - science and food are two of my favorite things, and putting them together makes them both better! Someday, we will acquire the DVDs of said show, and Alton can return to our lives.

Until then - and even after, no doubt - I shall read anything the man writes. Now, this book has nothing to do with Good Eats - instead, it's a book from a travel food show, detailing a trip along the length of the Mississipi River via non-interstate routes, showcasing some of the truly unique foods of various points along the way. The sketches presented of various family-run restaurants and shops along the river are a very enjoyable read.

There are recipes here, but if recipes are what you primarily want, this might not be the book for you - it's not so much a cookbook as it is excerpts from food diary with occasional recipes. Recommended, however, for lovers of Americana, travelogues, food, and Alton Brown.
(http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ze...)

(Alistair) Okay, so unlike Amy, I knew not of Alton Brown before arriving on this side of the pond, and since it was not all that long after that when we discarded cable as an investment, I know him primarily from his food books, rather than the Good Eats show.

Fortunately, he writes really rather good food books, to which this is no exception.

This one is the book of the second Feasting on Asphalt series, which for those not familiar with it is a travelogue, exploring "road food" while crossing the country by motorcycle. In this second series, that means the length of the Mississippi, from mouth to source, stopping and eating at all kinds of interesting places along the way - recounted with detail and wit.

As said in Amy's review, recommended for lovers of food, travel anecdotery, and Americana. For those primarily interested in recipes, however, I will go so far as to dissent in pointing out that there are forty recipes herewithin, for all that it isn't a recipe book in the conventional sense, more than a few of which inspired the desire to make them.

(Oh, additionally: for those readers of mine to whom this is relevant - you know who you are - I feel the urge to additionally mention that it includes a visit, once he reaches Minnesota, to the nation's largest producer of lutefisk:

Still not inclined to try it myself, though. ObQuote: "It tasted like fish Jell-O, and apparently if you're Norwegian, that's a good thing. I, however, am not, and it wasn't.")

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ce... ) ( )

I really enjoyed this book. it's a fascinating travelogue on the back roads along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Minnesota. Alton Brown introduces us to a number of down home and original cooks and their specialties. But this is not to say that this is a great cookbook. Most of the scattered recipes are rather simplistic. They give a flavor to the book rather than being the cause of the book. The most important lesson of the book is to simply slow down and enjoy life free from the sameness of corporate food. I'm all for that. ( )

This book inspired me to plan a vacation or two following Alton Brown's footsteps. Well, sorta. In a car, not on a motorcycle. And in two stages: from St. Louis north to Minnesota and from St. Louis south to New Orleans. I love off-the-beaten path trips, and this sounds like an interesting one. The book is terrific. I like the layout, the commentary, the journal notes, the recipes, the personality profiles. And I learned a thing or two! Recommended! ( )

I love Alton Brown. I love Good Eats. I love his commentary on Iron Chef America. I love his books. So there was no question that I would be reading this one as soon as it came out. Feasting on Asphalt is a companion book to Alton's most recent season of Feasting on Asphalt the show, in which he travels America on a motorcycle and samples the local cuisine.

Now, what I love most about Alton is the quirkiness and the food science. This book is the opposite of that -- there is no science, just a travelogue. Brown is witty and interesting no matter what he is doing, but even a die hard fan of his other work may not be so taken with Feasting on Asphalt.

That said, this is an excellent book, particularly if you love soul food and travel. Brown visits restaurants that are literally holes in the wall, and he reports on delicious food. I would definitely refer back to this book before making a trip near the Mississippi. Will I cook any of these recipes? Probably not -- almost none are healthy, a lot require frying, and besides -- they are road food, not cook at home food.

Feasting on Asphalt is an entertaining read, but didn't quite live up to my expectations. ( )