Plates and Dishes: The Food and Faces of the Roadside Diner
by: Schacher, Stephan

Softcover. New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 160 pages, color plates throughout. The blue plate special, meatloaf, a cheeseburger deluxe, a milkshake in a frosty mixing canister, a hot cup of joe--all served by a friendly face in a well-lighted aluminum tube. Such are the special joys of the American diner. And it was just these pleasures that photographer Stephan Schacher set out to document when he left New York on a journey through North America that would test both his stomach and his resolve. Schacher's mission: to feed his hunger only at diners, and to photograph both his meal and his server every time. The result is a unique and deeply human story--quirky and nostalgic and generous--of one man's quest to discover North America's diner culture and his own place in it. Traveling from a Jersey diner to the Canadian Rockies to a shoreside clambake shack on the Pacific Ocean, Schacher's culinary adventure is documented here with a wealth of visual materials. The author's arresting photographs of succulent steaks and greasy fries, of smiling waitresses in uniforms or jeans, and brightly colored plastic dishes and table mats are supplemented by maps showing the photographer's route across the continent.