I'd just like to thanks these swines for dumping their container of steamed chitterlings out the car window and littering our fragile environment.

Maybe if they didn't eat so much-- I mean, their eating patterns are truly excessive, no?-- they could appreciate things like environment (surrounding the LOCAL place they eat) and low-key motels. They say they appreciate everything local (culture), but clearly they kid themselves.

I first heard about "Road Food, Good Food" during the mid 1980s and bought the book before taking a cross-country trip. I've worn out two copies since then, and learned to drive miles out of the way just to check out a place they recommended. As a working class person who wanted a big meal with local, home-made ingredients for under $5 (in those days), I was constantly blown away by the accuracy of their descriptions. If they said try the red-eye gravy, I tried it. Greens, barbecue, chess pie, home fries -- whatever. And the funny thing was, my partner (who was more or less vegan) also became converted and shared the same meals I ordered. We never struck out, not once. The best culinary experiences in my life come from places the Sterns had been to and said was worth a try. Buntyn's in Memphis, the Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi, Kreutz's in Lockhart, Texas -- the list is legion. Buy the book, bone up on the website before a trip (ANY trip), and you will have the same luck, I guarantee it. Bless the Sterns.

Dear "Ikpo",

You're not from around here, are you?

Don't worry too much,..... a mess of steamed chitlings that's thrown out on the road isn't going to stay there very long at all.

drive down a road in Brunswick County some evening, and you'll see so many possums eating garbage by the roadside that, by conmparison, Evita Peron's funeral procession seems markedly unatended.

once, again....try not to worry about our environment....

LevelBest as Ever,

David Terry

www.davidterryart.com

"the state's signature stuffed ham"?

I have lived in Maryland (Western Maryland and Baltimore)for all 31 of my years on this earth, and I have never once even heard the words stuffed ham and Maryland used in the same sentence. If there is anything that is a "signature" dish in this state is definately crab cakes, or a dozen Chesapeke Bay crabs with Old Bay seasoning.

Why would they save the leftovers?

...than "Road Food." Jane & Michael have been chronicling just about every aspect of American pop culture for the past 3 decades. Their "Encyclopedia of Bad Taste," offering wry observations on all-American kitsch from the early Baby Boom years to the 1980s is a classic that deserves to be updated. And "American Gourmet," deliniating our ever-changing ideas about haute cuisine, is an entertaining complement to "Road Food."

Well Mrs Stern at least is showing the ravages of her food obsession. I look the Sterns upgrade to motels with spa/workout facilities for there own good!

The legendary Pepe's is in New Haven, not Fairfield.

At Nauset beach on the Cape. I believe the name of the food shack is Liam's these days.

That is all.

Oh, and a big thumb's up for Pepe's in New Haven. There are those who say Sally's and those who say The Spot, but Pepe's is king, as far as CT pizza goes.

Antonio's in Amherst, MA has the Best Pizza in the Universe, however, and I will hear no argument to the contrary.

However, don't ask for them in Utica, because they won't know what you are talking about.

Try not to worry overmuch about whether Jane and Michael Stern avail themselves of workout equipment during their travels--or about how much they weigh, or anything else that is their business, not yours.

YOU should brush up on your spelling, Anonymous, which is appalling. Try exercising your mind next time you're huffing along on your blessed Stairmaster. Try building some neurons (look it up!) along with muscle tissue.

Jane and Michael Stern have given us 30 years of wonderful observations about food, about appetite, and about this country. Thank heaven for both of them -- and heaven protect them from sneering little creeps who have nothing more interesting to comment on than someone else's weight.

After a heavy week, this article was just plain fun to read. To the person in Maryland, I smiled at that line about stuffed ham, because I have eaten the dish while in Maryland. (Precisely when & where is questionable--probably the weekend of a friend's wedding that took place in a rural area.)

Ever notice that when some twat gets his kicks by posting a meaningless and insulting post in the letters section, or pretty much anywhere else on the Internet, he (it's always a he) misspells or misuses words that your average 6th grader has figured out by now?

The word "their" is correct when referring to an object or trait shared by multiple people. The word "there" means a specific place, etc.

Now get back to your spreadsheet on 3rd quarter Slurpee sales.

duh.

Was that, as I read of the couple's concern for the displacement of authentic restaurants by corporate franchises, the targeted ads on the left side of the page were for Wendy's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's.

Note that the article isn't incorrect, Pepe's has opened a franchine (the shock of it!) in Fairfield.

Checked my source--it's a Southern Maryland thing. Yes, I did eat it a wedding in Southern Maryland--Leonardtown to be precise--1990. Not only that, but we had to stop at a grocery store the next day so a friend who caught a ride could buy some to bring home.

David Terry (www.davidterryart.com)'s comment leaves out one thing: do the possums in brunswick county (yes, i've been there many times, i'm a native of nc) also eat the *styrofoam/plastic container*? Or do the county's many wild roaming goats (of which no one at the parks service is apparently aware) come by and scavenge the rest?

I'm not sure our environment "is gonna be all right" if people not only litter, but celebrate it as if it were an art form.

These two people wallow (or waller, as it were) in excess, and this is just the fallout (so to speak) of it.