The Feast Of A Dinner Bob Dylan Once Listed Off Sounds Too Good Not To Recreate

A songwriter so good they gave him a Nobel Prize, Bob Dylan is one of the truest living legends we have left. He's also one of the most mysterious; in fact, he's so committed to remaining hard to pin down that he often lies to reporters. In the past, he's claimed that he grew up in a traveling carnival, and that he chose his career after a long saga involving gambling and a love affair with a woman from Mexico. But he got candid when talking about his perfect meal in 1986, which involves fried chicken and corn on the cob.

Interview Magazine asked Dylan for a list of favorites, and when queried about dinner, he gave the following: "Grilled corn on the cob, black-eyed peas, beet root salad, spinach and pilaf, deep-fried cauliflower, French-fried chicken and gravy, French-fried cabbage, pinto beans and rice, [and] cocoa angel cake." If you want to recreate it yourself, you'll need quite a bit of time on your hands: perhaps evenly coating the chicken for frying, making sure you take off the husks before you grill the corn on the cob, and double-sifting your flour for the angel food cake. It's certainly not what you'd call light fare, but did you write "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"? We didn't think so, pal!

Bob Dylan's affinity for down-home southern cooking makes a certain kind of sense. A central part of Dylan's mystique is that he has a deep connection with what critic Greil Marcus dubbed "the old, weird America" — a land of dusty roads, bizarre carnivals, and traveling men with guitars — despite his quiet, unremarkable suburban upbringing in Hibbing, Minnesota. Of course, someone who grew up idolizing the likes of Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie might also gravitate towards the culture that surrounded those artists — up to and including the cuisine.

Although food is not one of Dylan's main lyrical preoccupations, it does come up from time to time in his work. One song on his album "Nashville Skyline" is called "Country Pie," and although he may not be talking about eating literal pie (ahem), he name-drops a number of possible fillings, including raspberry, blueberry, and apple. And in his hobby as a painter, Dylan has often used the exteriors of a number of restaurants as subjects, including Dockery Plantation and Poor Monkey's in Mississippi. (He also painted the exteriors of Russ and Daughters, one of the best New York City restaurants on Goldbelly.)