Le Mobile Feast: An American Adventure

Facebook reminded me that, two years ago, I went shopping with Steve Le as he looked for a teardrop trailer to tow behind his car.

Steve was in the early stages of planning an adventure across America where he would cook a dinner party in every state while writing a book about it. He decided to pass on the trailer in lieu of sleeping in the homes of his dinner party hosts for a more intimate connection. He realized that, while people may keep up their guard at a large dinner party, they lower it in the morning when wearing pajamas, while drinking coffee, in their own kitchen. 

Le Mobile Feast: Dinner Party One

I first met Steve a few years ago at a local Naval Academy chapter happy hour in San Diego. We immediately clicked since we both had open minds and enjoyed writing (the name of his adventure, Le Mobile Feast, is a hat tip to Hemingway's book, A Movable Feast). I've been to about ten of his dinner parties in California and a couple in New Orleans. I clearly recount what's become known as "Dinner Party Zero," on the 2015 winter solstice, at my place in downtown San Diego. That was followed shortly thereafter by "Dinner Party One" at the home of my girlfriend. To add a little mystery... a year after Dinner Party One, we had a "special" dinner party.

Along his journey he's interviewed many people and he has been interviewed on NPR. Steve's still working on the details of his book. Initially, he was considering writing a story about every stop and sharing the recipe. But, since he's become an empirical authority on U.S. citizens, he'll probably focus more on contrasting American politics during the final year of Obama and the first year of Trump.

You can follow his adventures on his website.

By the Numbers

Elapsed time: 21 months

States visited: 42

Cities visited: 98

Dinners cooked: 168

Plates served: 1,353

Dogs: 82