Alton Brown talks gumbo, seafood in the Gulf

Thanks to a little visit from Alton Brown, the second annual Dauphin Island Gumbo Cookoff tripled attendance over the inaugural event last year. No doubt having a top-notch food TV personality on the island increased awareness for the community event and brought many folks to the quaint beach town who normally would have never known of the place or thought to visit it, especially after news reports of gloom and doom for the Gulf region last summer.

While gumbo headlined the palates of many visitors and residents, AB used the time to discuss sustainable seafood, an issue he's passionate about, and how the Gulf region is a great supplier of seafood for the US.

Before the day's festivities, Alton spent some time talking with the contestants about their gumbo, posing for photos and signing books. As luck would have it, in trying to track down my media pass for the event early that morning I took the two-minute drive over to the cookoff locale several hours before the official start. While there guess who was also milling about?

None other than Mr. Brown, decked out in Mardi Gras beads, and talking with people getting ready for the cookoff. Thanks to my quasi-insider status I followed AB around snapping some candid moments before the cookoff.