This book started out interesting with the first couple chapters on immigrant food going to the next generation and an eating competition. Unfortunately, from there it got fairly repetitive--everyone is the nicest people he has met and he drinks too much (and he's very tight on time and tired from travelling). I suppose the drinking isn't inaccurate for stereotypical Americans, but it got very boring as part of so many visits and his seemingly inability to keep track of his own drinking (as they keep appearing in his hands).

I finished it, and it was ok. It just didn't keep my attention well and I didn't feel like I was being taken along on an epic exploration of the food and foodways of the US. I felt like I was talking to a friend who is a passable but not great storyteller telling me about their vacation who only has a limited number of ways to describe things. There ARE interesting bits, but they are scattered throughout less engaging prose.

There is a huge variety of people and places in the book but I am hard pressed to mention any of them. They blended together because the descriptors used were often similar. Here and there some facts or history or snippets stood out, but overall it was just bland and blended together.

Not awful, just bland.

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