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Famous Fat Dave was always Dave. He wasn’t always famous and fat. Dave proudly added the “fat” early in life while growing up in Maryland. Bottomless cones of Thrasher’s french fries doused in apple cider vinegar and countless bushels of blue crabs steamed with Old Bay Seasoning began a lifetime of eating good food until it hurt.
He enrolled at New York University mostly to be near the city’s myriad culinary institutions. The first job he applied for after graduation was as counter help at Coney Island’s original Nathan’s Famous. Told he was overqualified, Dave didn’t get the gig, but in the next five years he landed a number of dream jobs deep inside New York’s food world.
Dave drove a bread truck for Orwasher’s Bakery, delivering Black Russian Ryes and Challahs to the likes of Tavern on the Green, the Russian Tea Room, and the World Trade Center. He prowled a stretch of Orchard Street sidewalk behind an aromatic row of 500 pound barrels as a pickle man at Guss Pickles. He translated his pickle skills into the cheese world as a sample-happy cheesemonger at Murray’s Cheese Shop. He even managed to sell his beloved Nathan’s hot dogs in Coney Island, doing so as a bellowing vendor in the stands at the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones ball park.
In the meantime, Dave moonlighted as a New York City yellow cab driver, followed his belly across five continents, and worked as a freelance food writer. His food writing has appeared in Time Out New York, Not For Tourists Guidebook, Attaché Magazine (the in-flight magazine for US Airways), and Gothamist.com. But it is his critically acclaimed and wildly popular eating tour that is putting the “famous” in Famous Fat Dave.
Q and A with FFD
Q: Where did you get the idea to do the eating tour?
A: I do a lot of traveling, and I noticed that in a lot of countries it is generally accepted that cab drivers are the best tour guides. I took an amazing tour in a Cairo black and white cab of the twenty two ancient pyramids of the lower Nile region. My driver, Ibrahim, who had a gigantic stomach, looked at my burgeoning pot belly and said if I keep driving a cab I could have a belly like his. I thought, why not have a tour like his too?
Q: Has the latest health craze affected your business?
A: Usually people who obsess about their bodies don’t do eating tours. And I don’t offer a health food tour. But I say, what better way to give in to your cravings than to just take one or two bites of the most delicious samples of each of your favorite foods, spacing it out over a period of many hours. Deep fried twinkies sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with strawberry sauce isn’t bad for you if you just take one bite to save room for just one bite of fifteen other things.
Vocabulary
Word | Meaning | Example |
---|---|---|
culinary | of or relating to or used in cooking | He enrolled at New York University mostly to be near the city’s myriad culinary institutions. |
institution | a custom that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society | Oxford University is one of the most famous educational institutions in the world. |
apply | to formally put oneself forward as a candidate for a job | The first job he applied for was as a server at McDonald’s. |
graduation | the successful completion of a program of study | His graduation from university made his parents proud. |
original | preceding all others in time or being as first made or performed | He has a copy, but he lost the original document. |
deliver | bring to a destination, make a delivery | Dave delivered pizzas for two years before changing jobs. |
tavern | a building with a bar that is licensed to sell alcoholic drinks | They stopped for a drink at a nearby tavern. |
aromatic | having a strong pleasant odor | The aromatic smell of garlic filled the restaurant. |
translate | restate (words) from one language into another language | He translated the English sentence into Ukrainian for his uncle. |
skill | an ability that has been acquired by training | His excellent computer skills got him hired for the job. |
sample | a small part of something intended as representative of the whole | The supermarket demonstrators gave the customers free cheese samples. |
manage | be in charge of, act on, or dispose of | He managed the company for thirty years before retiring in 2012. |
vendor | someone who promotes or exchanges goods or services for money | He even managed to sell his beloved Nathan’s hot dogs in Coney Island, doing so as a bellowing vendor in the stands at baseball games. |
continent | one of the large landmasses of the earth | Dave moonlighted as a New York City yellow cab driver, followed his belly across five continents, and worked as a freelance food writer. |
amazing | inspiring awe or admiration or wonder | I took an amazing tour in a Cairo black and white cab of the twenty two ancient pyramids of the lower Nile region. |
ancient | belonging to times long past especially of the historical period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire | We studied ancient Greece to learn about its influences on modern Western Civilization. |
gigantic | so exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant or mammoth | My driver, Ibrahim, who had a gigantic stomach, looked at my burgeoning pot belly and said if I keep driving a cab I could have a belly like his. |
health | the general condition of body and mind | Q: Has the latest health craze affected your business? |
obsess | be preoccupied with something | Usually people who obsess about their bodies don’t do eating tours. |
craving | an intense desire for some particular thing | But I say, what better way to give in to your cravings than to just take one or two bites of the most delicious samples of each of your favorite foods, spacing it out over a period of many hours. |
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