Alton Brown has turned his passion for food, cooking, and the science behind it into a successful television career—and he’s hungry for more. “At its best, cooking is a science expressed as an art; in other words, it’s a craft,” says Brown. The renowned creator and star of the Food Network’s Good Eats has also hosted Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen.
More recently, he launched Quarantine Quitchen, a web series that follows his food-centric escapades with his wife, Elizabeth. Brown has now left his Georgia kitchen and hit the road with a new culinary variety show entitled Beyond the Eats. He’ll perform at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach February 15, serving up comedy, food, music, and mayhem in equal measure. Just what mayhem can audiences expect? As Brown notes, that could be anything from “potentially dangerous food demos” to “stray scientific misfires and assorted shenanigans.”
Exclusive Q&A
A&C: How has your relationship to food and cooking changed during the pandemic/quarantine and as you’ve filmed your Quarantine Quitchen show?
Alton Brown (AB): My wife and I have become masters of the freezer. Nearly every scrap of meat and seafood we’ve eaten in the past year has arrived at our door hard as a rock.
A&C: What’s the first thing you would recommend someone learn to cook and why?
AB: Eggs. They’re versatile, they’re cheap, and you can eat them three meals a day.
A&C: What’s one way social media has impacted food culture for the better and what’s one way it’s impacted it for the worse?
AB: Social media has made us so much more aware of global cuisine and the foodways of people who may live on the other side of the planet or on the other side of our cultural bubble. On the other hand, I think it’s led to the fetishization of food images. Some argue that’s a good thing…I’m not sure I agree.
A&C: What would be your ideal last meal? Would you make it yourself?
AB: I’d rather my last meal be made for me by people who actually love me. And then I’d like a 500-gram can of good caviar…and potato chips.
A&C: Will you revive your #ABRoadEats for this tour?
AB: We’re really struggling with this one because I really love getting out in the community to meet people and eat the local nosh. Problem is, there’s this bug going around and that’s forcing us to change how we do things. Maybe we’ll talk people into coming by the theaters with coffee and doughnuts.
