AB & Me

Hey look! That's me with filmmaker Alton Brown. "Filmmaker" Alton Brown, you say? Well, in the first commercials for Good Eats, that's how he was advertised. I remember Angela and I making fun of those commercials, wondering why they had to promote him as a filmmaker and not a chef. But, I watched the show anyway, and after I realized how much I learned about cooking from Alton Brown, I was hooked.

Angela and I watched a lot of cooking shows when we were growing up. There was no Food Network prior to 1993 and I don't think our cable provider carried it until around 1996, so cooking shows were few and far between back then. I remember watching The Frugal Gourmet, The Graham Kerr Show, and Paul James' Home Grown Cooking. I don't know what drew me to watching cooking shows; I have just always enjoyed them.

After we got Food Network, I was in cooking show heaven, and soon after I started watching it, I realized Good Eats was different. Instead of the TV chef just showing me what ingredients to mix together, Alton Brown actually told me why I was mixing these ingredients together and what the result would be. It was almost like watching Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye only with food, and it just doesn't get much better than that.

I still watch Good Eats, and new episodes are still airing. I joke that it costs me about $40 to watch a new episode, because I am usually inspired to make whatever recipes Alton Brown presents on the show. So, if that means going out and buying a new kitchen gadget or some ingredients I've not worked with, so be it. I have learned so much from the show and Alton Brown has expanded my culinary knowledge so much, it was an honor to have met him.