The Iowa Gallivant brings Iowa foods into your living room

         When it comes to finding story ideas, I can usually sniff out some good ones.
         That was the case the other day while scrolling through Facebook.
         I came across the Facebook page of The Iowa Gallivant, better known as Jay Jay Goodvin of Iowa City.
         His real name is Jay Goodvin, but he said when he says, “Jay Jay, people are more apt to hear him.”
    Goodvin has been traveling around the state for 11 years eating all kinds of foods from different restaurants and small town mom and pop eateries and then sharing videos of his experiences, all while giving the eatery a plug.
       He calls his fans Gallivant Nation and has quite a following on Tic Tok and other social media outlets. He calls himself a culinary crusader who is passionate about travel, food, family, overalls and the American Cornbelt.
       He’s been featured in the Des Moines Register, Ag Day, Farm Journal’s Pork and various other publications through the years. 
     So, I reached out to Goodvin recently and had the chance to interview him via telephone on Ground Hog Day.
      His most recent venture was eating a tenderloin in all 99 of Iowa counties. The project took 10 months and just wrapped up in late January. Goodvin will announce the winner of the best Gallivant tenderloin on Feb. 13 on social media. He will also announce his next statewide eating project on that day.
       When asked if the winning restaurant will get an award or trophy, Goodvin said, “They will get a nod from my favorite tenderloin and a spike in business will be their prize.”
     Before this project, Goodvin said he has been to every single county in Iowa multiple times eating everything from pizza to pasta, chili, pancakes, soups, salads, egg rolls, corn dogs and about anything else worth trying.
      Goodvin spent more than 20 years working in the restaurant and the hospitality industry before starting the Iowa Gallivant.
       “It started as an on-line family scrapbook project,” he said. “It turned into this beast.”
       When asked how he chooses a restaurant, Goodvin said he lets the locals and restaurant fan bases guide him.
      In Poweshiek County, he visited the Classic Deli in Brooklyn a couple months ago, where he enjoyed a tenderloin and some sides.
       He might show up at a restaurant wearing a pair of Key brand bib overalls or one his “Keep Gallivanting” T-shirts and Tenderloin and Chili ball caps.
       He sells T-shirts, bib overalls, ball caps and accessories on-line at tig.keyapparelstore.com.
       He carries a well-groomed beard along with a deep, inviting voice that makes you want to sit a spell, enjoy some iced tea and a visit.
     He doesn’t get paid for visiting the different restaurants, but said he funds his eating ventures by promoting different communities, organization and events on his travels.
       “Cities and communities hire me to do that while out traveling,” said Goodvin.
      He usually calls a restaurant the day before or the day off to let them know he’s going to stop by and make a video.
       “I think it is only fair that they know someone is going to be their making a video,” he said.
       A few years back, he traveled the state eating different kinds of sausage.
      “One of my favorite trips was Iowa’s Wurst Road Trip, casing the state for the best sausage,” he said. “That was hugely successful and I loved it.”
     That led him to write a book, Rural Iowa Sausage: History & Tradition of Brats on the Backroads, which was released in November 2023.
      The book features a story on Dayton Meats in Malcom.
     “Have your tried their homemade pies?” Goodvin asked me of Daytons.
     “I bought one once and put it in the freezer and forgot about it,” I replied.
     He went on to praise Dayton’s for their homemade pies. He said lard makes the best pies and there’s no better place to find lard than at a meat market.
     That’s making me hungry – not the lard, the pie.
     He does all of his own posting on social media with help from his wife. When he stops at a restaurant, his wife, or sometimes a customer, restaurant employee or someone in the restaurant will film him while he enjoys a tenderloin or some other kind of food.
     I mentioned that the next time he’s in Poweshiek County, I would love to meet and have my photo taken with him. I will put it right next to the Iowa Governor and a photo that Debbie and I have from the state fair with the now late Frank Fritz of American Pickers fame.
    And I mentioned to Debbie, that Goodvin would be a great speaker at our next All-Iowa Writers’ Conference in September.
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.