The extraordinary Andrew Zimmern has introduced his millions of viewers to the delicacies and stories of food around the globe (bizarre or not). He works diligently for numerous philanthropies, including the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the International Rescue Committee that was instrumental in helping restaurants survive during COVID. His support of the International Rescue Committee\u2019s Voice for Nutrition, which strives to help the more than 51 million children around the world suffering from acute malnutrition, is inspirational. He\u2019s been incredibly supportive of local restaurants and his charitable endeavors through his Andrew Zimmern\u2019s Second Chances Scholarships have benefitted many struggling with extreme challenges. He\u2019s given many a welcome and much-needed second chance. Bravo to one of our nation\u2019s most renowned and caring foodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travelgirl: I\u2019ve followed you for years and years. I first became enamored when you launched Bizarre Foods and I\u2019ve been a fan ever since. I wondered how you could eat the most unusual and sometimes rather ghastly things. You always had a smile and something endearing and enchanting to say. Was there one food item that didn\u2019t appear enticing but really surprised you? TG: It sounds as if nothing edible frightens you. TG: Where did your love of food come from? I\u2019m Jewish and I bake challah. I make gefilte fish, kreplach, brisket, kugels \u2014 all types of Jewish food \u2014 and oddly enough, my mother never cooked. But my mother-in-law was a fabulous cook. Who inspired you? You have a great love of food. TG: You were born in New York, but live in Minnesota. Atlantans are very delighted you\u2019ve set your sights on our great city partnering with and developing Chattahoochee Food Works. I do want to recognize the fact that Scott Selig, of blessed memory, was the impetus behind this development in the beginning. What most interested you in the project? TG: You curated and selected the restaurants. What was the criteria to become one of the 31 vendors in this 25,000-square-foot food hall? TG: I am sure for many of the chefs this is their first physical brick-and-mortar restaurant. What advice can you offer so that one day some of these chefs can walk in your famous footsteps TG: You are the ultimate foodie, a renowned celebrity chef. You are an accomplished author. You have a wealth of top-notch television shows and you\u2019ve won an Emmy. You teach, you produce and direct, and you\u2019ve won four coveted James Beard awards. You are also a philanthropist and you make it a priority to be there for those who need your help. Which of these most defines you? In my opinion, it\u2019s philanthropy. TG: What shows are on the horizon including your Family Dinner, which can be seen on Chip & Joanna Gaines\u2019 Magnolia Network? TG: Is there one country you haven\u2019t visited that\u2019s on Andrew Zimmern\u2019s bucket list? Do you have a favorite destination? TG: Do you have a favorite destination, some place you really love? TG: Thank you for enlightening and enriching our lives through all of your endeavors.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong> The extraordinary Andrew Zimmern has introduced his millions of viewers to the delicacies and stories of food around the globe (bizarre or not). He works diligently for numerous philanthropies, including the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the International Rescue Committee that was instrumental in helping restaurants survive during COVID. His support of the International Rescue Committee\u2019s Voice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,145],"tags":[353,18,144,169],"class_list":["post-4661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covers","category-feature","tag-andrew-zimmern","tag-chefs","tag-food","tag-restaurants","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n
Andrew Zimmern:<\/strong><\/span> There have been so many. I remember the fertilized 14-to-16-day-old duck eggs in the Philippines. They were certainly something I had no idea I would enjoy, but I adored them. There were spicy, deep fried tiny little birds, which are available in jungle markets all over the world. They weren\u2019t something I would think about every week, but I love them \u2014 they are delicious.
\u00a0\u00a0 There are hundreds of sorts of Dr. Seuss-type animal experiences where you have no idea until you get to a place that certain foods are eaten there. For instance, iguana eggs don\u2019t have a hard shell. The white shell on the outside of an iguana egg is rubbery and elastic. When it\u2019s cooked you have to nip it with your teeth and suck the egg out, yet it\u2019s delicious. People around the world do eat yummy food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/strong><\/span>No, nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>My parents and grandparents got me started. Some of my friends\u2019 mothers loved to cook and many would take cooking lessons at the 92nd street Y in the late 60\u2019s and early 70\u2019s. These moms would come back with incredible recipes. I was entranced and I wanted to cook everything that I could get my hands on.
\u00a0 \u00a0 I started working in professional kitchens in the summer of 1975. As a teenager that was my job and my love of cooking took off from there. As far as inspiration, I think I\u2019ve drawn the biggest inspiration in a sense from the home cooks I\u2019ve met over the years. They are the real masters of a specific dish or craft. I\u2019ve known and I\u2019ve worked in many kitchens under many famous chefs. I could rattle off a name and it\u2019s a nice sound bite and I learned a lot in those kitchens. But when it comes to inspiration, it\u2019s the home cooks. It\u2019s experiences such as spending time in the home of an Italian family in Ravello, watching this family make meatballs in a way that I\u2019ve never seen before. This knowledge can literally change my relationship to that food and how I cook it. This is what inspires me.
\u00a0
TG: I\u2019ve read about AZ Canteen and would have loved to have been in Minnesota when you opened it. You\u2019ve showcased not just food from around the world, but the history of food and that\u2019s really interesting.
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>You\u2019ve got to learn about the food first and then you can fall in love with it. You\u2019re on the right track.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>It dates back to the City of Atlanta for which I have an incredible love and abiding passion for. My family came over to the United States in the early 19th century and came into the port of Charleston. They were German Jews and meat cutters and they made their way to Atlanta, which was a booming bustling city. They wound up heading north to New York City after the Civil War.
\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m a very modern scientific person. I\u2019m sitting at a table talking to you and this table is extremely solid \u2014 it\u2019s a 500-pound slab of red oak. It is rock solid and I could drop something on it and it\u2019s impervious, but science tells me it\u2019s actually not solid. Science tells me it\u2019s a swirling mass of electrons, right? I feel pretty stable in my chair, but I know the earth is 19 degrees tilted and spinning through space at 20,000 miles an hour so not everything is at it appears to be.
\u00a0 \u00a0 When I am in Atlanta, instantly I can feel the change. If I was blindfolded and I was flown somewhere, I truly believe if I landed in Atlanta, I could name the city when I got off the plane by how my skin felt. That could be just in my head, but I have and always have had, an affinity for Atlanta. That\u2019s the reason I work with an Atlanta nonprofit called The Giving Kitchen. My relationship with The Giving Kitchen predates my relationship with the Seligs and my partnership with Bobby Montwaid and the idea of developing the food hall in Atlanta.
\u00a0 \u00a0 Atlanta is a special place for me. I saw the building itself, then I met the Selig family and I fell in love with them. I believe because of that combination, and of the scope of the project which includes the architecture itself, the physical space, the building and the series of brick single-story units spread out over 90 acres, I felt it was going to be something really special. My partner Bobby and I wanted to be a part of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>Curation and selection are quite a bit different today than it was years ago. We had an idea of what sort of mix we were looking for. You have to curate and select vendors and determine a menu mix for the food hall. When we started, we made phone calls to every food person in Atlanta and then COVID shut the country down. There was the idea that everything would be mothballed for a while.
While I was off shooting my television shows, my partner literally went to Atlanta every other week and just walked and talked to people. You have to remember most restaurants were closed. The ones that were open were serving at only 25 percent or they were just doing to-go orders or some sort of delivery or take-out. My partner would visit these restaurants. He would ask where the best tacos and other sorts of foods were located and they would tell him. One by one, working the phones and working the streets together, we found some incredible entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs had to put their dreams on hold for more than 12 to 14 months due to COVID.
The people in the food hall, they are our partners, together they make up the rich tapestry of the experience of walking in there. This is not about Bobby or me; it\u2019s not about selection or curation. I actually think it\u2019s about the kismet of these incredible entrepreneurs who stuck it out and wound up persevering. Their stories are absolutely staggering and inspirational, and they make this collection of vendors what it is today.
For instance, it\u2019s about the two friends who always wanted to make pizza together. It\u2019s the mom and dad with eight children who are doing their take on their grandmother\u2019s soul food. It\u2019s the young South African kid who is doing some inspired food based on the food he grew up with. And it\u2019s the pair of twins who for years, spanning decades, have worked for some of the best Mexican chefs in the country. These twins wanted to start their own business selling some incredible food, tacos, and other things and they are able to do it here. It really is a magical collection of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>You just get up every day and you keep doing the right thing. I am certainly no one special. I just said yes to the next right thing. It sounds really clich\u00e9, but that\u2019s rather complex because you are faced with hundreds of decisions every day and saying yes to the good stuff and saying no to the bad stuff takes practice. You may make mistakes, but at the end of the day, if your heart is in the right place, and you genuinely want to do things for other people, which I believe is our purpose here on earth, incredible things will come to pass.
TG: This is not your first food hall project. What attracts you to food halls both as a consumer and as a food expert?
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>First and foremost, the people and the stories attract me to food halls. I was at the Thursday night market in Berlin, which is one of the most famous food halls in the world. There are hundreds of vendors and it\u2019s an extraordinary place. People come from all over Europe to sell there. There is a booth occupied by Dutch fishermen, a collective where they bring oysters and herring and all types of things, and it\u2019s quite exceptional. There\u2019s a booth that rotates every month, and it\u2019s given to vendors as an opportunity to cook and raise money for whatever reasonable nonprofit or cause the group wants to raise money for.
\u00a0\u00a0 The last time I was there I saw this lamb dish. It was a Syrian dish and I remembered there was a huge influx of Syrian refugees in Germany. I went over to see what the booth was all about and there were four Syrian families working there together, cooking Syrian food. There was a big line of customers because the smells, flavors, and tastes of their food were outstanding. I remember these families asking me what I wanted to eat and I said, although I really wanted to taste their food, I wanted to talk to them first. I would eat their food later. They were so surprised that I wanted to speak with them.
\u00a0\u00a0 I find the human story to be most compelling and then the food comes after. Here were four families, which included a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, a teacher, and they all had horrific refugee stories. They had suffered through really traumatic experiences and it was heartbreaking to hear their tales, but it wound up becoming a love story. These were the lucky ones who were able to get their papers in Germany and start their lives again. The doctor someday will hope to practice medicine again and the lawyer will one day hope to practice law. The accountant had already started with accounting work and the teacher was teaching Syrian children in the community. They had suffered from a lot of anger and hate directed at them because they were immigrants from another country.
\u00a0\u00a0 You find all sorts of stories in food halls. The world is not made up of fried chicken, fast cars, nice watches, and iPhones. The world is made up of people and I find people extremely compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ:<\/span><\/strong> I would agree with you. Philanthropy is the thing that occupies me and my time the most. The stuff that really interests me are the nonprofits and the boards I sit on and the development work that I\u2019m doing here in Minnesota, in my own communities to try to heal and repair damage that has been done. This is what I hope will be the longer lasting legacy of mine.
TG: How do you balance your busy and rewarding career and your personal life? You\u2019re a guiding light for the Independent Restaurant Coalition, diligently striving to save restaurants affected by COVID-19. You are also an inspiration to students with extreme challenges. You\u2019ve given them an opportunity through your Andrew Zimmern\u2019s Second Chances Scholarships and you scored a huge success with the International Rescue Committee. How do you balance it all?
AZ:<\/span><\/strong> I don\u2019t; I wish I could. I get up every day and I keep going until nighttime. There\u2019s so much need and so much to do. I don\u2019t know any other way to approach it, so I dive into the deep end of the pool and get busy.
\u00a0\u00a0 There were 20 or 30 of us who got together in the beginning of March 2020 and we knew there was going to be a big problem for the independent restaurants and bars and the millions of people employed in this industry who would be affected by COVID-19. We decided to do something and we founded the IRC (Independent Restaurant Coalition) and several of us on the leadership committee sent a group text and as the SBA dollars started flowing, we were sort of collectively crying together. It was an incredible achievement. In over a year and a month, we went from being nothing to delivering $28 billion. We were finally able to deliver something to the people who needed it the most.
\u00a0\u00a0 You asked about the Second Chances Scholarships. I have one at the CIA, [Culinary Institute of America] and one at the James Beard Foundation. I was given so many second chances in my life and if I hadn\u2019t been given these chances, I would have died a long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ:<\/span><\/strong> That\u2019s the newest one, [Family Dinner with Andrew Zimmern] on Discovery+ and on the Magnolia App and the Magnolia Network, which takes over DIY, which happens in January 2022.\u00a0 We have a bunch of other really cool shows in the works which I\u2019m very excited about.
TG: You\u2019ve eaten, written about, and developed television shows in almost 200 countries. Is there one item America\u2019s most famous foodie never leaves home without when you are packing to hit the road?
AZ:<\/span><\/strong> Yes, crushed dried red chilies. I like spicy food and I find myself ordering room service at a hotel at 10 p.m. and the one thing they usually send up is a tiny bottle of tabasco. I always like to have dried red chilies for the bowl of pasta I order from room service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ:<\/span><\/strong> Shockingly I still haven\u2019t been to the Czech Republic. If I go to Paraguay, I can cross all of South America off my list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AZ: <\/span><\/strong>Yes, southern and southwestern Africa. I find it a magical place. I find the indigenous people there to be kind and spiritually connected to their world and that is very special to me. This is real traveling and it takes forever to get into some the tribal communities there.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information or to donate to Andrew Zimmern\u2019s wealth of worthwhile (delight enriching) causes, please log onto https:\/\/andrewzimmern.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"