Felicity Cloake on her search for authentic American cuisine and her simple pleasures of buttered toast and retro trifle

The trip was as much about the people and places as it was the food. Felicity wanted to look beyond the “big hitters” – barbecue brisket, Nashville hot chicken, Chicago pizza – and discover what Americans are actually eating day to day. She was fascinated by the “newer fusion cuisine” that reflects the country’s diverse population. In San Antonio, for example, she visited a Taiwanese-American chef making Chinese dumplings filled with breakfast taco ingredients. In Texas, she found Czech pastries traditionally filled with fruit, but adapted with sausage or Cambodian-spiced meat. “It’s just really exciting, that kind of thing,” Felicity enthused.

Unexpected highlights and food discoveries

One of the most surprising aspects of Felicity’s journey was how much she enjoyed the Midwest. “I loved Maine, actually. I think it’s because it reminded me a bit of the British Isles, and by that point I was just like, 'I want some green' because it was so hot.” But, it was the Midwest that truly captivated her.

“What really surprised me was how much I loved the Midwest. I found it really exciting – those vast lakes where there are beaches and forests and camping and it’s really wild. I love that. Near Chicago, I love those endless sort of agricultural regions and little towns; they have great little towns in the Midwest and that’s not something that we think of.”

Food-wise, Felicity found the produce in California “amazing”, but her favourite food was in New England, thanks to her love of seafood and the region’s farm-to-table ethos. “By that point – it’s not that Americans don’t eat vegetables and they do great salads – but, sometimes in restaurants and kind of mid-range restaurants, it’s quite difficult to get vegetables. Mac and cheese is quite a common side dish, not a vegetable.” She also fell for the food in New Orleans and Texas, especially Tex-Mex cuisine, which she finds hard to get in London.

Not everywhere was a culinary triumph, however. In rural areas, choice could be limited. Felicity recalled a particularly disappointing meal in a small town in Texas: “I ordered a salad and a massive plate of pasta and I thought, I’m gonna go for fettuccine alfredo because that’s not something that we have here. I just thought, I’m gonna have carbs and cream, and it’s gonna be great. What arrived was something orange and gloopy on the salad. I got this plate of pasta that was in a sauce that separated, and it had mushrooms. It wasn’t alfredo, it was just basically oil – I was so tired though, I was too British. I just discreetly pulled off some of the oil, ate most of it, paid the bill and went to bed.”

The joy of simple pleasures

Despite her travels and exposure to high-end and fusion cuisine, Felicity’s favourite dish is disarmingly simple: “Trifle. It’s difficult because trifle is probably my favourite dish, but the one that I eat most often and the most comforting is buttered toast, which is such a boring answer, but a really good piece of buttered toast. There’s nothing to match it, but trifle is a special occasion dish. My mum’s trifle is great.”

For Felicity, the ultimate toast is made with white bloomer from her local baker, cut thick, toasted to a “roast chicken skin colour” and slathered with butter. “You want to load so much butter on it that basically it starts to almost come out the other side. You've got leave it, you can’t be too hasty: I butter it immediately, but then leave it to sink in. Well, I try to leave it, but often I’ve already started eating it.”

Her trifle is equally nostalgic, made with sponge fingers soaked in sherry, canned raspberries, Bird's custard (for that all-important set), whipped cream and silver balls on top. “With the canned raspberries, they’re all already floppy and they soak into the sponge with the sherry. That’s delicious. Then, custard… when I was a child, it used to be Bird's custard. It’d be poured on and then put in the pantry, and it would sit there until it had gone solid with a delicious skin on top. I know I’m losing some listeners with the skin, but I love that.”

Reflections on food, travel and what comes next

Felicity’s cycling adventures have also given her a unique perspective on food culture in different countries. She rates France as the best for cycling, with “well-signed” routes and courteous drivers, while in the US she found cycling less dangerous than expected.

“Lots of people warned me that it would be very dangerous to cycle there. But, actually, I only had one or two bad experiences, which is not as many as I had on the way to the studio today in London.”

Looking ahead, Felicity is open to more travelogues, with Italy and Spain as possible destinations, though she admits language barriers might make it harder to chat with locals – a part of the experience she treasures. “One of the things I loved about the US is people want to chat to you. It's bliss for me; even if I don’t agree with what they’re saying, I love to have a chat.”

When asked about her food guilty pleasure, Felicity is unrepentant: “It’s also toast-related and, you know, when you end up with the crusts on your plate. I just put more butter on the crust. I’m not talking about a little scraping of butter. I’m talking like a big wedge.”

As for what good food means to her, Felicity is clear: “Good food means to me, food that is delicious. But also, it feels nourishing in that way. It feels like it’s doing you good. But, that’s not the main thing: the main thing is delicious. But you also don’t feel at all guilty after eating it. You feel nourished in all senses.”

Felicity Cloake’s adventures, whether on two wheels or in the kitchen, are a celebration of curiosity, comfort and the joy of sharing food, no matter where in the world she finds herself.