Over the past few years, foodies across the country have witnessed the incredible rise in popularity of TV shows like "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," a Food Network program that features celebrity chef Guy Fieri visiting renowned casual eateries across the United States.
Perhaps entranced by Fieri's catchphrase, "That's money!" as he chomped down another delicious sandwich, or perhaps simply sick of dining hall dinners, senior Benjamin Filippo became increasingly interested in food during his sophomore year at Tufts.
He spent his junior year abroad in London, where the British university system has such liberal breaks that he was able to travel extensively around Europe, sampling the various local cuisines at each of his destinations. With an insatiable interest in food, he decided to attend the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, because it offered a year-long course on food anthropology.
"The reason I went abroad was to take a year-long course on the anthropology of food," Filippo said. "It's one of the only true, universal aspects of cultures. Food brings people together in all societies. It has pretty much since the beginning of time."
Filippo believes, however, that the proliferation of fast-food chains in the United States has led to a breakdown in American food culture. Consumers across the country purchase identical processed foods from McDonald's or Wendy's, driving small mom-and-pop eateries out of business.
"So many cultures around the world, especially outside of Western Europe and the [United States], will sit down for huge feasts and be there all day," Filippo said. "We've lost a lot of that conviviality in the West because of the popularity of fast food places."
In August, when Filippo returned to Tufts, he reunited with sophomore Brian Tummon, a friend from high school who had spent his first year at Tufts while Filippo was abroad. When they realized that neither had traveled widely around the United States, they began to discuss the possibility of taking a road trip over winter break to see and sample the country's various regional flavors.
"America definitely has a lot of regional cuisine," Filippo said. "Unfortunately, some of it's dying out, but you can still get cracklings in Mississippi and those crazy hot dogs in Tucson."
The pair mapped out a route that began in Charleston, S.C., continued on to Nashville and Birmingham, Ala., then headed west through New Orleans, Shreveport, Dallas, Tucson, and the Grand Canyon. From there, they decided to drive through the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles, and then up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. On the way back to Boston, they stopped in Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City, Louisville, Newark, Delaware, Baltimore and Kenova, W. Va.
Some locations were chosen because friends lived there, others because of their historical sites or their aesthetic beauty. Some, of course, were selected for their food culture and celebrated local specialties. Prior to the trip, Filippo scoured food forums like chowhound.chow.com and review sites like Yelp.com in order to learn about towns' renowned specialties.
They were able to try some of the most delicious, unique, and often caloric foods that America has to offer. In Mississippi, they stopped at a gas station and tasted the aforementioned "cracklings," or pork rinds that have been fried or roasted. In Kansas City, they ate old-fashioned BBQ for dinner and enjoyed a traditional Midwestern breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy, courtesy of senior Lorrie Barnett's mother.
While in Tucson, they tried the famous "Sonoran hot dogs," which are topped with bacon, beans, tomatoes, onions and condiments like mayonnaise, mustard and salsa verde. A few days later they visited Tucson's Lindy's Diner, the site of a "Man vs. Food" challenge. On the Travel Channel show, host Adam Richman travels the country, taking on restaurants' eating challenges.
Both Filippo and Timmon attempted to consume a 12-patty, 3-pound cheeseburger in under 20 minutes, but said that they hit a "grease wall" and were unable to continue eating.
Fortunately for their cholesterol levels, their fare in California was somewhat healthier. They dined on things like navel and blood oranges, mahi-mahi tacos and Dungeness crab salad.
Some of their favorite memories from the trip were those moments that were unplanned, like deciding to camp out in the national forest by the Grand Canyon, because they didn't want to pay to stay in the campground.
"Seeing the Grand Canyon was one of my favorite sites, especially because of the dusting of snow on the landscape," Filippo said.
Similarly, while in Shreveport, La. visiting a friend, Filippo and Tummon had little to do until they happened to drive by a pecan research facility. Without hesitation, they pulled into the facility and asked to be taken on a tour.
"We met this very nice plant entomologist named Michael Hall. He didn't quite understand why we were there, but he showed us all of the pecan facilities and told us all about his research on the aphid that attacks pecans specifically … When we left he gave us a five pound bag of pecans and all these amazing jams," Filippo said.
Their trip offered them not only a great culinary experience, but the opportunity to both meet new people and to visit college friends in their hometowns. Along the way, they stayed with four seniors — Travis Lowry in Houston, Peter Honnef in Santa Cruz, Calif., Callie Kolbe in Denver and Barnett in Kansas City. On the nights when Filippo and Tummon weren't hosted by fellow Jumbos, they stayed with other friends, camped or used CouchSurfing.org to find free accommodations. They ultimately paid only $650 each for the trip.
On the way back to Tufts, Tummon and Filippo made a "pit stop" at Chap's Pit Beef in Baltimore, a dingy shop known for its in-house smoked meats and sandwiches.
"It's literally a shack on the side of the road in Baltimore," Filippo said. "But it's worth driving down from here to Baltimore to get these sandwiches."
When Tummon and Filippo finally arrived back in Boston on Jan. 20, they had driven a total of 10,237 miles, all with a patched tire that didn't pop until they reached Trader Joe's grocery store in Cambridge.
