COOL ROADSIDE FOOD FINDS

NBC’s has launched the TV series The Great American Road Trip which is an “Amazing Race”-like series that has families competing along classic Route 66. This prompted me to think about childhood vacations and all of the great little restaurants and food shacks along that old roadway.

One of the joys of taking a summer road trip is finding great roadside food. There is a new book out called “500 Things To Eat Before It’s Too Late” which touts itself as the ultimate guide to the best food finds from coast to coast. It is divided into regional chapters and includes lots of foods you will only find in one state, like the onion-fried hamburger, a burger patty with onions grilled into one side of it, indigenous only to Oklahoma and the Newark Hot Dog, which is a muffaletta loaf stuffed with two hot dogs and condiments that you will only find in New Jersey. You might want to check this book out and see if some of the restaurants in your area are included in it and talk about them on the air.

This idea of unique road food in general could make for some interesting on-air content. Consider launching the topic “What are the most unique local food items and who makes the best versions of them?” Create a list of the top five to ten delicious food destinations in your area and post them on your website. Then, rent a small bus or van to take listeners on a mini-road trip that stops at all of the locations on you local “best of” list. You could call this your Summer Taste Tour 2009. Be sure to print t-shirts with your call letters and the name of the tour for each winner to wear while on the taste tour. There no better advertising than 20 or 30 people with your call letters on their shirts walking in and out of five to ten local restaurants in an afternoon!