This is the reason interview with Nikolespi. My guest today is Alton Brown, who for years hosted

Good Eats on the Food Network and married his interest in science to the making of dinner.

He's currently touring the country, and he's also just published Food for Thought, a fantastic

collection of essays about food, culture, and his life on and off the screen.

I talked with him about how food transcends politics, why fusion cooking isn't cultural appropriation,

and why there's always room for jello salad on his menu.

Here is the reason interview with Alton Brown.

Music Here is the Reason interview with Alton Brown.

Alton Brown, thanks for talking to reason.

Happy to be here.

Thanks for having me.

So you are on a farewell tour, and you also have a new book at. i want to ask based on some research i did is this a

real farewell tour or is this like the ramones and the who you know at various stages no no i'm

i'm going to stick the landing on this one uh no this this will be my last national tour for sure

but you know this whole thing about living on a bus for 13 weeks, it's not nearly as glamorous

as you might think.

I, you know, yeah, I think it would be, but I guess it's a little bit cramination.

No, it actually really isn't.

If you could take a train, like a, you know, your own coach, like what was the

president?

Yeah, I was going to say, uh, what was the president?

Yeah, I was going to say, President Garfield, uh, in Wild Wild West or something, right?

...