Troy Johnson Talks to Fans on Facebook
Last week Troy Johnson, host of Crave, dropped by for a Food Network Facebook chat. If you missed it, here are some of the highlights:
Kate Farber Gold: What is your favorite thing to eat?
TJ: I would have to say Thai food -- drunken noodles with duck, so hot it hurts. Or Fruity Pebbles in ice cold milk.
Michelle Buffardi: Is there any food that you hated as a kid but learned to like as a grownup?
TJ: I hated liver, now I love it. Especially one that's a little enhanced.
TJ: It would have to do with mussels, a little roasted bone marrow (meat butter) and a salad so that I can go into the afterlife with a svelte figure.
Cameron Curtis: What's your favorite food-related book?
TJ: My favorite book is probably Medium Raw or The Omnivore's Dilemma. It taught me that I'm a walking corn chip and I need a pool full of salsa. And M.F.K. Fisher's Art of Eating.
Brian Engberg: I am starting up a food blog and am writing my very first recipe review tonight. Before I do my review, what is one piece of advice you have for a food enthusiast who just wants to write an honest review?
TJ: Be as real and specific as you can be. Smells, sights, sounds and mood should all be incorporated. But don't rip a chef to shreds. No one deserves that. He or she's trying to cook for you.
Meghann Dotta: I read a great tribute to grilled cheese today. What food would you love to tribute?
TJ: My tribute would probably be to cereal. I ate it three times a day growing up. Probably why I love good food now.
Heather Froman: What's the best steak you've ever eaten?
TJ: The best steak I've ever had was a 28-day aged ribeye at Flavor restaurant in San Diego. Blew my mind.
Sara Levine: What was your favorite destination that you visited on Crave?
TJ: I have to say Lubbock, Texas, for BBQ. Man, those dudes can slow-cook some beef. In 110-degree-F weather. They are not mortal. No sauce. It's like finger painting on a Picasso.
Brandy Shearer: What food would be your equivalent to a rock god?
TJ: I think prime rib would be Ted Nugent, oatmeal would be Air Supply, and fish and chips would be Spinal Tap.
Ted Gammon: Other than being another San Diego resident, like me, what are your credentials to be a food expert?
TJ: Five years of studying, I guess. I'm no CIA graduate like Alton Brown. I'm a journalist who loved food and has spent half a decade studying it. But Chef Symon's food knowledge would make mine cower in the corner like I'd just had my brain's lunch money stolen.