Confessions of an Alton Brown fan blogger

"Problem was, no one wanted to look at my demo. But why would they? I was nobody, just some guy with a crazy idea for a cooking show." Alton Brown said that once of trying to launch his show, Good Eats, so many years ago and I've always kept it as a quote of inspiration for my own projects. I figured if he could do it, so could I.

This weekend, while amidst my experiments with adapting AB's Mooless Chocolate Pie to other flavors, I thought of rushing to my iMac and writing about the wonderful outcome this project gave me and how what just happened is, at its very core, everything Alton says he wants viewers to gain from watching Good Eats--more than a recipe but honest to goodness culinary knowledge. I wanted to celebrate this and what my culinary teacher gave me.

That knowledge AB always says he is giving us came to bear with my tofu pie project; however, with everything that has happened recently from his alleged donations to another blog, to his open announcement of his dislike for blogs (calling them tar babies) and the snide comment that we bloggers lack employment has honestly change how I feel about keeping this site. Why bother celebrating someone who thinks what I do is a waste of time, is some sort of trap and is only here to do bad things?

All of the excitement I find in learning and accomplishing something in the kitchen is what makes me want to share with others. Talking about my latest culinary success, thanks to something that AB taught me, was the first and foremost reason behind starting this site. I have loved to cook since I was a kid. I'm a writer at heart and bringing that together was a no-brainer for me. Like AB says he's really a filmmaker at heart and makes little movies about food. Same outlook. Same passion.

Unfortunately, the medium I chose to showcase this is something that Mr. Brown scoffs at and, by that, wrongly believes blogs are lowly, a waste of time his time and operated by people without jobs who are just trying to do bad things.

I'm a food writer, how controversial can I be?

I'm a fan and admire him for doing something he loves, why would I ever want to paint him in a bad light?

I've thought of scraping the whole fansite and turning to just writing about cooking and food on another site, the passion to share cooking successes is still there even if my opinion of Mr. Brown has changed. Being just another food blogger, I could concentrate on cooking and discovering rather than trying to uncover information about him on top of everything else. Truthfully, that uncovering of news made my journalist side ecstatic, still answering the bell even though I’m not a member of the 4th estate by employment.

In not writing for a few days, but still cooking, I have realized how much communicating my love for cooking and telling those stories are something enjoyable and meaningful. But, I realize no matter what I do, how well I do it, because of his shortsightedness Mr. Brown will never see as this site as good. I honestly hoped he would, at the very least, see that and if not change his whole outlook on the blogosphere, change his outlook on one blog run by a fan who admires the heck out of him, learns a lot from his projects and shares a similar passion to communicate that love of cooking and teaching with others.


I'm wasting my time believing that will ever happen.


I have received a lot of emails thanking me for the site and the information about tours dates and shows times. I thank everyone who has written, it is nice to know others appreciate this site. However, if Mr. Brown doesn't see fit to provide that on this own site then why should a lowly blogger do it for him? I know his site lacks information and I have debated if I should keep providing this for fans. I don't know how to answer that since he seems not to care to have his own site updated.




As for the tofu pie experiment, I successfully converted it to a peanut butter pie, which my mom loved because she’s a serious peanut butter junkie. I need an unbiased opinion on it, however, before truly knowing if it was good. I don't trust her, lol. The other flavor, coconut cream, needs a bit more tweeking. The flavor was there but the coconut milk made the base a wee bit loose. I have an idea on how to remedy it. So, another project for another weekend.


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