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Alton Brown’s food tour is a culinary buffet
By John Benson
No matter what he’s doing, foodist Alton Brown always chooses wisely.
That was the case during the decade he spent behind the camera as a commercial cinematographer or during the following decade as visionary of his Peabody Award-winning show “Good Eats,” which combined food science, pop culture, skit humor and innovative cooking into entertainment for the masses.
Even though the Food Network show ended two years ago, its spirit lives on with the innovative “Alton Brown Live! The Edible Inevitable Tour,” which makes its PlayhouseSquare debut Friday at the State Theatre.
In fact, the show seemingly includes everything. Is there anything missing?
“Well, there’s no dancing component in the show,” said Brown, calling from New York City. “There’s actually a rap number, too, which wasn’t in the show before. I would have said last year there’s no rapping but now there’s actually rapping, so that’s a big difference here.
“It is truly designed as a culinary variety show with puppets, filmed pieces and these large and very unusual culinary demonstrations in staggering proportion. We’ve added a big Twitter based Q- and-A thing that will be a lot of fun, so there’s a lot going on for two hours.”
There’s also a lot going on in the life of Brown, who has authored seven books, including the James Beard award-winning “I’m Just Here for the Food” and New York Times bestselling sequence “Good Eats.”
He also hosted numerous food series including “Iron Chef America” and his current gig on the game show “Cutthroat Kitchen.” Recently, Brown took on the mentor/judge role for “Food Network Star.”
Of course, it’s his “Good Eats” program, which still runs in reruns on the Cooking Channel, for which he is most recognized. However, it was never Brown’s plan to become a television host. In fact, in some ways “Good Eats” was a coincidental opportunity.
“First of all, I wasn’t even supposed to be in the show,” Brown said. “I ended up in the show because we couldn’t afford anybody professional to do it. Eventually it was like I might as well keep doing it. But I never for a moment. … I thought if I was lucky, I’d get 50 episodes out of this.
“That I’ll have a job for 50 episodes, and then 252 episodes later, I pulled the plug on it myself because I thought 14 years was enough.”
Unlike other cooking shows, “Good Eats” explored the culinary science, which over time became Brown’s calling card.
“My constituents are curious,” Brown said.