MANSFIELD, Ohio — As part of his “Fed, White, and Blue: Finding America with My Fork” book tour, author Simon Majumdar visited Mansfield on Monday, first stopping by Pioneer Career and Technology Center and later holding a cooking demonstration and book signing at Ed Pickens’ Cafe on Main.
Mansfield marks approximately the 40th stop of his book tour, which began in mid-March. “I’ve had so many amazing stops,” he said. “It’s hard to pick [a favorite] because everyone has been so overwhelmingly generous and kind everywhere we’ve been.”
He’s traveled throughout the northeast, deep south and even Puerto Rico. He particularly enjoyed his stay in Kansas City, where he hosted a kosher barbecue festival.
Barbecue happens to be one of his favorite cuisines. “To me, it’s a quintessential expression of American cuisine,” he said.
Majumdar is touring the country with his wife, Sybil.
“What this really represents, this journey, is a follow-on from the research for the book where I asked America to invite me to come and share their food experiences around the country before I kind of committed to become an American, he said.
“So for the book tour, we did the same thing: my wife and I basically asked the country to invite us to come and do food experiences.”
By the end of the tour, he will have visited at least 50 different places and held about 200 events, he said.
Majumdar, who’s also a recurring judge on Food Network shows such as ” Iron Chef America” and “Cutthroat Kitchen,” will start filming “Beat Bobby Flay” and then “Cutthroat Kitchen” in July. “In many ways, that’s my breaking–filming TV,” he said.
The last event of the tour is scheduled in November. However, he noted, “As long as people keep inviting us we’ll keep rolling on. The book’s not going to disappear and I’m going to keep promoting it.”
Though he was unfamiliar with Mansfield prior to his visit, he said, “It’s really nice to be able to come here and meet amazing people.” He said the city reminded him of his hometown Rotherham, England.
He sought to promote local businesses by having Main Street Books sell his books during the event at Cafe on Main. “Whenever there’s a great independent bookstore, we love for them to come in and sell the books to support the businesses, he said.
“And people who don’t necessarily know the bookstores will get to know them–that’s very, very important for me.”
Also significant in his eyes, he said, “For me, it’s very important speaking to the young people in high school culinary programs. I hope I can inspire them because I think I have a very interesting culinary job.”
He said he enjoyed the trip to Pioneer Monday morning, noting, “It’s incredibly inspiring for me talking to students…It’s like putting starter cables on a battery–it just recharges me.”
Of all the titles he wears (food critic, author, chef, TV personality, etc.), he said, “When people ask me what I do, I say I’m a writer, a food writer. And writing is what I probably have the most fun doing.”
In addition to “Fed, White, and Blue,” he’s authored “Eat My Globe” and “Eating For Britain,” along with hundreds of articles for many publications.
“I have the best job in the world,” he said.
