Road Food: Road ala Mode

Three decades ago, when authors Jane and Michael Stern set out to document great roadside places to eat, there was no Internet to go to for tips. There was no Zagat guide to steer them toward restaurants. It was all word of mouth.

Thirty years later, their landmark 1978 book Roadfood (Broadway Books, $21.95) continues to be the standard by which highway and back-roads dining is judged. The seventh edition, published this year with an updated list of 700 barbecue joints, lobster shacks, diners and ice cream parlors, is a reminder that it was the Sterns who paved the way for the likes of Rachael Ray and her $40-a-day culinary travelogues.

Roadfood led the Connecticut-based couple to write three dozen books and to turn their hobby into a column in Gourmet magazine and a regular spot on NPR’s The Splendid Table. They spend more than a third of the year behind the wheel, also documenting their dining adventures on their Web site, roadfood.com.

“Our work has gotten easier over the years because of the Web site,” Michael Stern said recently during a phone interview. “Now when we set out, we’re armed with more tips and suggestions than we can get to. It’s frustrating, actually.”

Some of the restaurants are chosen as assignments for the magazine, but the Sterns also “allow for the possibility for getting lost.” Talking to locals for suggestions on where to eat remains a big part of their research.

With gas prices soaring, the idea of culinary travel these days might seem extravagant. Stern thinks otherwise.

“The high prices of gas might actually encourage travelers to seek out Roadfood restaurants, since nearly all of them are very inexpensive,” he says.

They’ve heard from readers who said they use the book and Web site not only for long trips, but also for a weekend drive or an afternoon trip.

“Also, if airplane ticket prices and rental car prices keep going up, travelers may find that taking the family on a road trip actually is the less-expensive option,” he says.

They prefer to eat local specialties because of the authenticity that road food provides.

“Jane and I often make the point that there might be a terrific Cajun restaurant in Sioux City, Iowa, but that’s not interesting to me,” Stern says. “When I go to Sioux City, Iowa, I want a restaurant I’m going to find only in Sioux City, Iowa. Similarly, when I’m in Cajun Louisiana, I want a Cajun restaurant. I don’t want a New York deli. That’s really the point. It’s not just that the food is authentic. It’s that everything is. The accents of the people you’re sitting with, or the wait staff. The method of presentation. The whole experience of walking out, if you’re in Louisiana, and smelling the swampland.”

“That’s all part of the experience. Food in a vacuum is not really all that interesting.”

– By Jeff Houck
Media General News Service