Getting Inside Steve Almond's Head

Hi Everyone,

It really is too bad that Steve Almond does not live around here! I think he would have made for one of the most interesting author visits. Since we will not get to pick his brain, I thought I would post this interview about him. He just released a new book called: Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life. Apparently rock and roll is another one of his obsessions. Candy and rock and roll...what more could you need :)

Q: If you could make your own candy bar, what ingredients would be in it and what would you call it?

SA: It's hard to limit me to just one. Let me offer a few I've been thinking about:

1. The Huckleberry Hound: a purple huckleberry nougat wrapped in dark chocolate. I'd never tried huckleberry before I visited the Idaho Candy Company. It's incredibly fruity and intense.
2. Just Minted: light cookie wafers stuck together with mint and enrobed in dark chocolate. There's just not enough mint in our candy bars. You need a dark chocolate to balance the mint, which has a strong flavor.
3. Witch Hazel: crushed, roasted hazelnuts on a bed of dark chocolate mousse, surrounded by milk chocolate. Uh-huh.
4. Expresso Yourself: a milk-chocolate bar infused with a buttery, French roast-flavored coffee cream.

I could go on. And on.

Q: You write about "freak fetishes" -- strategies by which people consume candy. What's the most outstanding example you've encountered in your research?

SA: I was at this party last weekend and this woman gave me a great one. Her dad is a huge fan of Peeps, those little marshmallow chicks. But he doesn't like them fresh from the box. He likes to let them get a little stale (I guess this could be thought of as curing them). So she's telling me this, and another guy in our conversation circle says, "Everybody does that. Peeps are only good if you age them a week". Then a third guy says, "Actually, I like to let them age a month". So it turns out that there's this whole culture of people out there who age their Peeps. We're all such freaks.

Q: What defines a candyfreak?

SA: It's definitely not a quantity thing, just eating a lot of candy. It has more to do more with being conscious of what you're putting in your mouth, thinking about the flavors and textures, the mouthfeel, of a particular piece. And I do think that most people have a freak streak in them, some particular candy, or snack thing, or whatever, that haunts them (in a good way).

For the full interview click below:

http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2004/may/interview_steve_almond.html

Almond actually just made an appearance yesterday at Powells in Portland! So close yet so far!