Truckers in the Wild, our show about food trucks and the people who love them, heads to Las Vegas.
Truckers in the Wild: Nashville
As with most alluring US cities, the food-truck scene in Nashville is going strong, and the SoulFuel 501 truck is among the best of a new breed of trucks that bring an innovative twist to classic southern cuisine.
In this episode, we meet up with a local squirrel hunter and gospel singer named Kevin Spacey (yes, that’s his real name) who takes the brothers into the heads to shoot for their dinner. Next, the brothers take the SoulFuel 501 crew to rural Tennessee to see how their trendy food fares next to ultra-traditional southern cooking.
Truckers in the Wild: Miami
Beloved food truck Mojo on the Go is the best of the best of “southern Florida cuisine”— a fusion of Creole-, Cuban-, and swamp-inspired food, including alligator, frog legs, and more. Located on the edge of the world famous Everglades National Park, the truck only offers swamp-caught food, so we follow Max and Eli as they hunt frogs in the Everglades for the truck’s daily catch.
The brothers then take Mojo on the Go to the hypersophisticated ladies and gentlemen of Coral Gables—the richest neighborhood in Miami—to see how they react to the truck’s swamp delicacies.
What Cat Food Tastes Like
While preparing dinner at a friend’s apartment a few nights ago, I asked if their cat should eat too. Then someone fed the cat. Then I asked if I should eat cat food too. Then people said “yes” and I did. I think that’s how it happened. I know it started as a joke but then it tasted surprisingly OK. Later at a deli I excitedly selected cans of wet cat food for a taste-test experiment I promised myself I’d do first thing in the morning. After my hangover subsided, I felt more able to seriously consider two futures: the one where I’d never know what wet cat food tasted like, and the one where I would. In both futures I’d eventually end up dead, but the one where I’d eat cat food seemed more exciting. With that said, actually making myself eat the canned reconstituted meat morsels took longer than anticipated. I succumbed to misguidedly productive acts like finding “the perfect eating-cat-food outfit” (pink striped dress: too naive; button-down under a black sweater: too smart; red flannel dress: just right?), photo-testing locations for the best place to eat (a plate on the floor: obvious and kitschy; sitting at a table: unrealistically ordinary; bed: psychotic), and letting “research-based” internet activity devolve into gawking at YouTube videos about cannibalism and falling asleep with a knife under my pillow. OK. Enough explaining, I’m introducing this like I’ve committed a sex crime or something. I ate some cat food. That’s all that happened. Here’s what I thought.
Purina Cat Chow: Naturals Plus Vitamins & Minerals
Packaging: 16-ounce green bag with a Ziploc seal for freshness. Features colorful clip art-like illustrations of vegetables, grains, and a woman resembling Mona Lisa sleepily nurturing a happy, attentive cat on her lap.
Aroma: A little vitamin-y.
Texture: Harder than Captain Crunch, but denser, so it didn’t make those little cuts on the roof of my mouth. Moist enough so there was no fight to combine it with saliva, but crunchy enough to not let me forget I was chewing.
Flavor: I remember saying “it’s like those ‘Chicken in a Biscuit’ crackers” and “it’s ‘umami,’ do you guys know ‘umami,’ that new taste called ‘umami?’” There was a tangy aftertaste. It wasn’t unpleasant at all. Ate a few voluntary handfuls.
Beverage pairing: An affordable sparkling wine. I had been drinking Korbel (Brut, I think) at the time, but a sweeter Prosecco would also fare nicely.
Closing remarks: Could be transformed into larger vessels for humans to spread cheese on.
Fresh Off the Boat - Los Angeles, Part 1
In the first part of the LA episode, Eddie rolls through Tehrangeles and shops for Persian rugs that cost as much as cars, eats brain and tongue sandwiches, and tests out magical saffron ice cream before ending the night at Little Tehran’s most famed hookah spot.
Fresh Off The Boat - Bay Area, Part 2
Eddie heads to San Francisco’s Mission District with the girls who run the pop-up street-dining operation Rice Paper Scissors. Their Vietnamese food is some of city’s best and brings buddies together to cook and hang out wherever they find space. The RPS girls show Eddie their go-to food spots before grilling up octopus, drinking rice wine, and talking about food as culture’s gateway drug.
Fresh off the Boat with Eddie Huang - Bay Area, Part 1
Eddie’s first stop in the Bay Area is Oakland, where he hangs with a local biker gang that shows hipsters how to shoot guns and hunt for rabbit. After a few gruesome hours in the Oakland outback, they head back to the clubhouse to shoot the shit, throw back a few cold ones, and talk about the disconnect between people and the process it takes to put meat on their plates. Then they cook up a delicious meal of southern-style deep-fried rabbit.
