Post by Kaiti on Dec 19, 2012 15:08:15 GMT
Interview: Man vs. Food's Adam Richman, part 1
Adam Richman is known to most television viewers as the man with the giant appetite in Travel Channel's hit series “Man vs. Food” and “Man vs. Food Nation.” But what many may not know is that Richman has a long career working in almost every facet of the food business. He is also a world traveler, keeping detailed journals of the greatest foods he finds on his journeys.
Most recently, Richman has become the latest celebrity chef to team up with the folks from Bounty Towels for a food related promotion. This one is in conjunction with the Rose Bowl, where Richman will judge a competition called “Tastiest Tailgate Messes”, with culinary alumni of Rose Bowl participants Stanford and Wisconsin will prepare one of their state's signature dishes.
We caught up with Adam by phone. In part 1 of this 2 part interview, we discuss The Rose Bowl and his involvement in Bounty's Tastiest Tailgate Messes.
We're talking to you today because you have a promotion coming up with Bounty and The Rose Bowl. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah! I've been working with Bounty Select a Size. I was with them at the Texas State Fair too. This one's going to be a little different. We're going to the Rose Bowl to look for the Tastiest Messes. People think of me and have certain assumptions, but I've been working in kitchen and restaurants since I was 12 years old. As anyone who's even a fledgling cook can tell you, food prep, cooking, and eating can be a pretty messy affair. I've been in kitchens from the glorious to the not so much and of course we all feel good eating from a clean kitchen. But sometimes it's also fun to just get elbow deep in BBQ sauce with a set of ribs!
Then Bounty, and it's funny because my mom... You can have as many hit shows as you want, but you tell your mom you have a deal with Bounty and my mom was so excited! I think she was seeing free paper towels coming through the door. -laughs- But genuinely, and I really do only promote products I believe in, so the thing is Bounty is doing all these promotions with their new Select a Size. Which I dig because I come from a single parent home and instead of this giant sheet you use a smaller sheet double ply. We're going to go and find a tailgater, an uber fan, at The Rose Bowl. One from Stanford, one from Wisconsin. And they're going to make their signature dish, something that's kind of iconic for their state. We have cheese curds involved from Wisconsin and Stanford is doing carne asada. We're going to go sample the food, see the mess that's made in the construction, and then crown the tastiest mess in the Rose Bowl.
I can't imagine you'll have a hard time finding a messy tailgate party!
Well, there's a difference between messy and filthy. There's a degree of sheer fun. When you go to a barbecue restaurant coast to coast and eat a rib, you end up looking like Heath Ledger in Batman, you know? -laugh- That's the joy of it! The thing for me, and I'm proud to say I've said no to more endorsement deals than I've said yes, but the thing is I used it at the Texas State Fair, and I wanted to see if it was all hype. I was thinking “can you really build a better mouse trap? Is it even possible to improve a paper towel?” And I'm sure I sound like a corporate shill here but I tried it and there was a dude making fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- and the oil around the fry trap... it looked like Saudi Arabia, just oil everywhere. And the sheets, I'd guesstimate they're probably 4-5 inches wide in a strip as opposed to a big sheet. And I remembered my mom growing up, she was a teacher and we all know how much of a millionaire those are.. and she'd always say “can't you use a rag? Can't you use half a sheet?” And this thing is more economical, it uses less paper, and I think while tailgates can be wasteful affairs, I'm stoked to be part of the cleanup crew to try some home cooking, which is some of my favorite food on Earth. But also, if this is something that will bring value or is a better product, I'm happy to hitch my wagon to a star.
You mentioned a bit about the two schools' signature dishes. Can you tell us a little more about those?
Absolutely. The gentleman from Wisconsin, and he's not an actual Badger obviously, but he's Treasurer of the Wisconsin Alumni Chapter in L.A., and he's making brats and cheese curd. Now, brats and cheese curds are ubiquitous in Wisconsin and to a lesser degree Minneapolis, where I lived for a while. There's abundant dairy land and because of the rich Scandinavian and German settlement in the area, wurst and sausage making is definitely going to take hold. Plus you have to consider the weather in that area. With the cold weather they like stick to your ribs comfort foods. In Curly's Pub at Lambeau Field, the biggest seller is brats and cheese curd. So it is kind of cool. If you think about it you couldn't get a bigger difference between schools. You have Wisconsin, sort of the iconic bread basket of America, then you have Stanford, which is the West Coast elite.
For Stanford, you have a lady named Nancy Valenzuela, is making carne asada. Obviously it's something that really speaks to her heritage and California's heritage. If these were flipped and someone from Wisconsin were doing carne asada and someone from California was doing cheese curd, it would just ring so false. I think that's what's kind of special. These people are not only showing what their school is but also representing the taste of their part of the nation, the Midwest vs.West Coast flavor. It's a little like comparing apples and oranges but if everything goes well it should be a really delicious and messy thing!
It should be a really neat concept because looking at this from here in the South, we kind of know carne asada from the Americanized Mexican restaurants, but I think the majority of Southerners' knowledge of curds is pretty limited.
Yeah. I lived in the South for at least half my life. That's what's awesome about this. Everyone knows what tailgating is and everyone knows they want to be king of the parking lot. I think when you have two schools vying for dominance on the gridiron, it's cool to take that level of competition to their fans. And in the end, if you'll pardon the unintended pun, it's good clean fun. But it is! You're a talented cook making one kind of food. I'm a talented cook making a different kind of food, but this product works for both of them. Both sides are going to make a mess. Tailgate food is finger food, you want to wrap it in a napkin and go. No one wears a three piece suit to a ballgame. You want to go and have the fun sausages and whatever. So it's elevated tailgate food but it's going to be that great comfort food and that great tailgate tradition. As someone who didn't go to a big athletic school, it's exciting for me to see that kind of spirit made manifest in everything from “our mascot is better” to “our food is better.
For folks who want to watch or keep up with this live, how can they do it?
They can go to Bounty's Facebook page or Bounty's Twitter page. I'll be tweeting leading up to the event, I've already begun to, tweeting pictures and things. But it's all happening on New Year's Day. You know, there's a lot made of the Super Bowl and rightfully so it's the biggest game in American football, but while there's The Orange Bowl and The Sugar Bowl, there's just something really special and iconic about The Rose Bowl and people converging on Pasadena and having the Midwest vs. The West. And the great equalizer is a great kick ass paper towel. This isn't about who's better or who's smarter or which region of the country you prefer, it's all about who makes the tastiest, and the messiest, dish at the tailgate. It's a dubious distinction, but at the end of the day it's to show the universality of a product I truly believe in. And for people like my mom who's a single mom who is trying to make ends meet and trying to make a budget work after my dad passed away, you actually have get something that does what it says and you get your money's worth. It's something pretty cool to be a part of.
The Examiner Interview Part 1
Adam Richman is known to most television viewers as the man with the giant appetite in Travel Channel's hit series “Man vs. Food” and “Man vs. Food Nation.” But what many may not know is that Richman has a long career working in almost every facet of the food business. He is also a world traveler, keeping detailed journals of the greatest foods he finds on his journeys.
Most recently, Richman has become the latest celebrity chef to team up with the folks from Bounty Towels for a food related promotion. This one is in conjunction with the Rose Bowl, where Richman will judge a competition called “Tastiest Tailgate Messes”, with culinary alumni of Rose Bowl participants Stanford and Wisconsin will prepare one of their state's signature dishes.
We caught up with Adam by phone. In part 1 of this 2 part interview, we discuss The Rose Bowl and his involvement in Bounty's Tastiest Tailgate Messes.
We're talking to you today because you have a promotion coming up with Bounty and The Rose Bowl. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah! I've been working with Bounty Select a Size. I was with them at the Texas State Fair too. This one's going to be a little different. We're going to the Rose Bowl to look for the Tastiest Messes. People think of me and have certain assumptions, but I've been working in kitchen and restaurants since I was 12 years old. As anyone who's even a fledgling cook can tell you, food prep, cooking, and eating can be a pretty messy affair. I've been in kitchens from the glorious to the not so much and of course we all feel good eating from a clean kitchen. But sometimes it's also fun to just get elbow deep in BBQ sauce with a set of ribs!
Then Bounty, and it's funny because my mom... You can have as many hit shows as you want, but you tell your mom you have a deal with Bounty and my mom was so excited! I think she was seeing free paper towels coming through the door. -laughs- But genuinely, and I really do only promote products I believe in, so the thing is Bounty is doing all these promotions with their new Select a Size. Which I dig because I come from a single parent home and instead of this giant sheet you use a smaller sheet double ply. We're going to go and find a tailgater, an uber fan, at The Rose Bowl. One from Stanford, one from Wisconsin. And they're going to make their signature dish, something that's kind of iconic for their state. We have cheese curds involved from Wisconsin and Stanford is doing carne asada. We're going to go sample the food, see the mess that's made in the construction, and then crown the tastiest mess in the Rose Bowl.
I can't imagine you'll have a hard time finding a messy tailgate party!
Well, there's a difference between messy and filthy. There's a degree of sheer fun. When you go to a barbecue restaurant coast to coast and eat a rib, you end up looking like Heath Ledger in Batman, you know? -laugh- That's the joy of it! The thing for me, and I'm proud to say I've said no to more endorsement deals than I've said yes, but the thing is I used it at the Texas State Fair, and I wanted to see if it was all hype. I was thinking “can you really build a better mouse trap? Is it even possible to improve a paper towel?” And I'm sure I sound like a corporate shill here but I tried it and there was a dude making fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- and the oil around the fry trap... it looked like Saudi Arabia, just oil everywhere. And the sheets, I'd guesstimate they're probably 4-5 inches wide in a strip as opposed to a big sheet. And I remembered my mom growing up, she was a teacher and we all know how much of a millionaire those are.. and she'd always say “can't you use a rag? Can't you use half a sheet?” And this thing is more economical, it uses less paper, and I think while tailgates can be wasteful affairs, I'm stoked to be part of the cleanup crew to try some home cooking, which is some of my favorite food on Earth. But also, if this is something that will bring value or is a better product, I'm happy to hitch my wagon to a star.
You mentioned a bit about the two schools' signature dishes. Can you tell us a little more about those?
Absolutely. The gentleman from Wisconsin, and he's not an actual Badger obviously, but he's Treasurer of the Wisconsin Alumni Chapter in L.A., and he's making brats and cheese curd. Now, brats and cheese curds are ubiquitous in Wisconsin and to a lesser degree Minneapolis, where I lived for a while. There's abundant dairy land and because of the rich Scandinavian and German settlement in the area, wurst and sausage making is definitely going to take hold. Plus you have to consider the weather in that area. With the cold weather they like stick to your ribs comfort foods. In Curly's Pub at Lambeau Field, the biggest seller is brats and cheese curd. So it is kind of cool. If you think about it you couldn't get a bigger difference between schools. You have Wisconsin, sort of the iconic bread basket of America, then you have Stanford, which is the West Coast elite.
For Stanford, you have a lady named Nancy Valenzuela, is making carne asada. Obviously it's something that really speaks to her heritage and California's heritage. If these were flipped and someone from Wisconsin were doing carne asada and someone from California was doing cheese curd, it would just ring so false. I think that's what's kind of special. These people are not only showing what their school is but also representing the taste of their part of the nation, the Midwest vs.West Coast flavor. It's a little like comparing apples and oranges but if everything goes well it should be a really delicious and messy thing!
It should be a really neat concept because looking at this from here in the South, we kind of know carne asada from the Americanized Mexican restaurants, but I think the majority of Southerners' knowledge of curds is pretty limited.
Yeah. I lived in the South for at least half my life. That's what's awesome about this. Everyone knows what tailgating is and everyone knows they want to be king of the parking lot. I think when you have two schools vying for dominance on the gridiron, it's cool to take that level of competition to their fans. And in the end, if you'll pardon the unintended pun, it's good clean fun. But it is! You're a talented cook making one kind of food. I'm a talented cook making a different kind of food, but this product works for both of them. Both sides are going to make a mess. Tailgate food is finger food, you want to wrap it in a napkin and go. No one wears a three piece suit to a ballgame. You want to go and have the fun sausages and whatever. So it's elevated tailgate food but it's going to be that great comfort food and that great tailgate tradition. As someone who didn't go to a big athletic school, it's exciting for me to see that kind of spirit made manifest in everything from “our mascot is better” to “our food is better.
For folks who want to watch or keep up with this live, how can they do it?
They can go to Bounty's Facebook page or Bounty's Twitter page. I'll be tweeting leading up to the event, I've already begun to, tweeting pictures and things. But it's all happening on New Year's Day. You know, there's a lot made of the Super Bowl and rightfully so it's the biggest game in American football, but while there's The Orange Bowl and The Sugar Bowl, there's just something really special and iconic about The Rose Bowl and people converging on Pasadena and having the Midwest vs. The West. And the great equalizer is a great kick ass paper towel. This isn't about who's better or who's smarter or which region of the country you prefer, it's all about who makes the tastiest, and the messiest, dish at the tailgate. It's a dubious distinction, but at the end of the day it's to show the universality of a product I truly believe in. And for people like my mom who's a single mom who is trying to make ends meet and trying to make a budget work after my dad passed away, you actually have get something that does what it says and you get your money's worth. It's something pretty cool to be a part of.
The Examiner Interview Part 1
