Years ago when I was a grad student at Penn State, a neighbor who was from Altoona invited my roommates and I to her parents’ home. Her family, who were Jewish, owned a hotel in downtown Altoona. I do not believe it is in operation anymore. Her father had promised his mother he would keep a kosher home. So when they wanted to eat non-kosher, they would eat at the hotel.
At home I try to buy locally raised “organic” foods as much as possible. I avoid factory meat, and often go directly to the farm or slaughterhouse, where I have some concept of how the animals were raised. The organic label doesn’t always mean what one thinks it should, so I do not go strictly by the label. Many farmers refuse to buy into the certification process, but they will gladly tell me how their produce is raised. And some organic products simply do not yield good value. So it is a constant struggle and harder than following kosher or halal rules.
When I am traveling, all bets are off. I try to eat at local restaurants that have character… and characters, although I do find myself eating the vegetable platters at Cracker Barrel on occasion. They are not vegetarian, being cooked old Southern style, but contain very little meat.
Thus it is fitting that I found Tom & Joe’s in downtown Altoona the first weekend in November. Full of character and characters. And good food! No Georgia ice cream on the menu, which is to be expected north of the Mason & Dixon Line, but the fried taters were great. I did not want to photograph the customers, and there were many, so the only photos I took were of the outside.
Mushrooms were hard to come by that weekend. So were happy Penn State fans.
Eatmore T.
http://eatmoretoadstools.com
Tags: altoona, altoona diner, cracker barrel, factory farming, fried taters, georgia ice cream, halal, kosher, organic, penn state fans, tom & joe's