Hello, and welcome to The Exert. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday, August 17, 2025.

What is American cuisine and who gets to define it? Is it barbecue or blueberry pie, hot dogs or lobster rolls, chili or gumbo? American food culture is as complex and complicated as we are. And in addition to what lands on our plates, there's everything that comes along with it, from tipping to whether the check should come before dessert.

While most of us walk or drive to try out new restaurants, British food writer Felicity Cloak chose to fly to the U.S. with a green touring bike.

She calls Eddie to cycle from coast to coast in search of American cuisine. She joins us now to share

her view from the outside looking in, which is also detailed in her new book, from Pete Street

to Lobster Lane, available on bookshelves now. Felicity, thank you for joining me.

Thank you for having me. It's actually lovely to be back. I feel like I'm in London at the moment,

but I feel like him back in London at the moment, but I feel

like him back in the States and that's nice. You trekked across the US on a bike, something you

were heavily encouraged not to do. How did going against that advice shape your culinary

experience here? You're right that several people, both American and European, said to me, why are you cycling in the States?

It's not a country that is great for biking.

And it's true, you know, I'd never really heard of anyone else cycling in the States, apart from professional cyclists, which I certainly am not.

But I found before this is actually my third travel and food book, and I've done them all by bike.

And I really found it's the best way to really get under the skin of a country because it's slow enough that you can really notice the details of things changing,

but it's fast enough that you can, you know, you can cover some

distance and really see as much the country as possible. And plus, what I thought is really great

is that if you're on a bike, people stop and talk to you. It feels very, you feel quite

approachable in a way that I think you don't when you're shut away in a car. And people, you know,

they come to ask you questions. They ask

if you've got a motor hidden on it, etc. I just think it's a really great conversation starting

point. So I did, despite all of the warnings, I did not regret it. I would say the US is actually

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