Alton Brown, host of Food Network’s Good Eats, returns to the world of traveling cuisine for his new show Feasting on Waves. The show is a follow up to his popular, and far more entertaining than most of the traveling shows on Food Network, Feasting on Asphalt. This time around the doctor of the kitchen will explore the many islands of the Caribbean to discover the best spots to eat.
Too bad Brown hadn’t done this a few years ago prior to my own trip to the Caribbean, I could have used the help every now and then. Mostly we spent our eating time at what I’m fairly certain are touristy joints like Froggy Jacques. We still ate some fantastic food, and it was my first experience eating some delicious flying fish. Alton and his tiny crew will start their journey on St. Kitts with tonight’s premiere episode, “Sugar on Isle One.”
The show as a whole works because of how Brown and crew put it together. They have a small crew, complete with big heavy sound equipment and new fangled video technology. The show is mostly put together out there on the waves after shooting, although I’m sure some clean up and final editing was done afterwards. Alton himself carries around one of Panasonic’s new HDC-HS100 AVCHD camcorders, capturing footage that is on par with the heavier rigs lugged around by the crew.
The Feasting series also gives Alton a chance to show that he’s not simply a scripted rube, as a few people seem to think now that his popularity has begun growing exponentially. It’s funny to me how much backlash there is against chefs and cooks who become media popular. Hell, Brown himself was a cinematographer before getting into the business of good eating. He’s a guy who likes food, likes science, and especially loves sharing that with people. Brown is also an avid motorcyclist and adventurer. Make no mistake, for all of his PR grooming over the past decade Alton Brown is still the real deal. He’s a guy who loves what he does, works hard at it and is not shy about sharing his passion.
You can catch new episodes of Feasting on Waves every Sunday night at 10:00pm EST on Food Network starting this evening.
