An open letter to Keith Knight. 25 March 2008 8:25 am
Posted by Tracy in : books, eating, fast food, food snobbery, geekery, meat, people, travel , trackbackDear Keef,
First things first: you probably don’t remember me, and that’s okay. I wasn’t expecting to meet you at the 2003 Alternative Press Expo or I might have been more prepared to offer a body part for you to sign. Or maybe I would have been just as starstruck as I was to run into you by surprise, at your table next to Stephen “Bob the Angry Flower” Notley’s. I remember that I totally flushed and couldn’t really make eye contact as I looked through your merch, wishing I had money to burn, since even then (holy cats, five years ago) I had been an admirer of your comics for many years. But I digress.
As a longtime reader of your fantastic strip, The K Chronicles, I thought I knew and loved your way with food. After all, I’d read from before New Orleans food (so good you want to take your pants off and sit in it) and 20/20 hindsight on Mom’s cooking onwards through your take on bacon, My (Hammy) Vice (classic!) and beyond.
So imagine my shock upon reading your latest strip, Meat Street Breakdown! on Salon.com. I simply cannot believe that I have eaten a bacon-wrapped hot dog, and you have not, sir. I am shocked, simply shocked! And now I must tell you (and, um, all my blog readers) all about this eating experience which we do not yet share (I use that “yet” optimistically, with nothing but high hopes for your gastronomic future).
It was in Copenhagen, in June 2002. I’d had some pretty bad experiences with street food hot dogs in the past, but my partner (who lived in Norway for three years as a kid) swore they were different in Scandinavia. So on our first day in that fair city, I sucked up my courage and tried a pølse from a street vendor’s cart. Holy cats! These were not the crappy street vendor hot dogs of distant memory! They were fricken tasty sausages: tender, juicy, flavorful, dressed with a mysteriously savory sauce and served in a surprisingly substantial, almost crunchy, bread! It was a revelation, as was the extensive menu of options at just about every pølse stand. Mostly we played it safe and stuck to “ristet hot dog,” which we ate at least once a day for our entire stay in Copenhagen (our other daily staple besides smørrebrød breakfasts was the mysteriously rich and delicious soft serve ice cream) but on our way out of Scandinavia, on our very last day in that part of the world, I got a little crazy. There was a hot dog stand at the train station, and I could not resist the bacon-wrapped option, just that once. Of course, it was delicious: an added layer of salty, crispy, uniquely bacony goodness seamlessly integrated into the scrumptious morsel praised earlier… I get hungry just thinking about it.
But Keef! While I can’t vouch for their L.A. cousins, I assure you that Danish bacon pølse are top-notch, and I hope someday you’ll get to enjoy something of equal or greater tastiness, just as I did back in the day. Likewise, I hope to someday use your Guide to Great BBQ for similar gastronomic awesomeness. But that will almost certainly be cause for another letter.
Until then, I remain, deliciously, your fan.
-Tracy
Shameless Plug!
Hey readers! Keith Knight is one of my favorite comics artists of all time, and you should buy his stuff, either from his online store or on Amazon (and if you use these links I get a teeny cut!):
(I told you it was a shameless plug.)
Comments»
I’ve heard about those Copenhagen bacon dogs. ..They are waaaay different than the L.A. street-meaters!!
Thanks for saying nice things.
-Keef
Eeeee! My day is completely made, and I hadn’t even gotten around to emailing you this page like the colossal fangirl I am! Yay! Readers: I told you Keef rules, and the above only goes to prove it more.