Andrew Zimmern
Talking about the hard stuff
There are people who say they are there, and there are people that are there. When Andrew and I meet years ago we realized that we would be friends for life, so many similarities, love of food family but most of all our consistent honesty with each other and support has created an unbelievable friendship and support. There is so many things I can say abut Andrew but most of all I want to say “Thank You” for your consistent friendship & support threw thick and thin we always have each others back to get threw the hard stuff. I love You AZ my brother of another mother!!
A Taste of the Good—and Bad— Life
Thanks to his parents who had him traveling around the world mouth first, Andrew knew from a young age he wanted a career in food. After attending The Dalton School and then Vassar College, Andrew was on the fast track to success, cooking in New York City restaurants helmed by Anne Rosenzweig, Joachim Splichal and Thomas Keller. He helped open and run a dozen restaurants, but was also an addict spiraling out of control. Crashed and burnt, he spent a year living on the streets, stealing to support his addiction. Ultimately, one last intervention by close friends brought him to the renowned Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. Transforming his life around sobriety, Andrew began washing dishes at the Minneapolis outpost of New York’s Café Un Deux Trois in 1992. When a line cook fortuitously didn’t show up for his shift, Andrew took over his station, and in seven weeks was named executive chef. He turned Un Deux Trois into a successful gastro-bistro during his six-year tenure.
Making Moves in the Media
Andrew’s revamped menu of French dishes shot through a Vietnamese and Chinese prism drew the attention of media. Local news appearances led to regular TV work as the ‘in-house chef’ on HGTV’s early slate of programming produced in Minnesota. Rebecca’s Garden and TIPical Mary Ellen proved to be extraordinary springboards. Eventually he found a regular job as a features reporter doing live local news, became Mpls.St.Paul Magazine’s dining critic and restaurant columnist, and hosted his own drive time radio show. In 2003, Andrew filmed a test pilot for the show that ultimately became Bizarre Foods, targeting Travel Channel as a potential home. Since Bizarre Foods first aired in 2006, he’s created the spin offs Bizarre World, Bizarre Foods America and Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations.
Andrew founded the Minneapolis-based, multi-media company Food Works in 1997. A full-service operation that develops and manages content, Food Works oversees production and distribution for all of Andrew’s media endeavors, including his former podcast Go Fork Yourself, a 2012 Stitcher award-winner for Best Food/Cooking podcast, his website AndrewZimmern.com, which was nominated as the best food blog by the James Beard Foundation in 2016, and AZ Cooks, a digital cooking series. In AZ Cooks, Andrew shares cooking techniques and recipes inspired by his travels and experiences in the professional kitchen. He demystifies essential dishes from cultures around the world in pursuit of culinary literacy. AZ Cooks has won Taste Awards for “Best Food Program Online” (2018 and 2019), as well as “Best Instructional Series” (2019) and “Best Chef in a Series” (2019). The series was also recognized as a Webby Honoree in 2019.
Beyond his success as an on-camera host, Andrew’s background as a journalist has led him seamlessly into the world of publishing. Giving a behind-the-scenes look at the cultures he found in his favorite destinations, The Bizarre Truth (Broadway, 2009), inspired readers to travel, explore and eat the unconventional. Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs and Blood Sausage (Delacorte, 2011) gave younger fans a backstage look at his culinary adventures. A book for young adults, Andrew Zimmern’s Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, Wonderful Foods: An Intrepid Eater’s Digest (Feiwel & Friends, 2012) is a pop culture-influenced look at funny, fantastic and occasionally bizarre ingredients. His latest offering, a grade level series called Alliance of World Explorers, Volume 1: AZ and the Lost City of Ophir was released in February 2019 and recently won a Gold IPPY in Juvenile Fiction. Additionally, Andrew is a contributor at Food & Wine magazine and a contributing editor at Delta Sky Magazine, where he pens the column “Fork and The Road.”
Innovative Culinary Concepts and Partnerships
In 2012, he launched Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen, a quick service concept licensed at U.S. Bank Stadium and Target Field in Minneapolis. Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen is now a property of Passport Hospitality, a restaurant concept and design company Andrew founded in 2015. Through Passport Hospitality, Andrew and his culinary team provide consulting services to various restaurant and retail projects.
Andrew recently collaborated with Minneapolis chef Gavin Kaysen to create KZ ProVisioning, a unique catering company for professional athletes. KZ ProVisioning works with sports teams like the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild, to provide healthy meals to the team’s players, coaches and locker room staff. Andrew has also partnered with Robert Montwaid to develop an experiential food hall in the historic Dayton’s building in downtown Minneapolis and in Atlanta’s Chattahoochee Food Works.
Creating Compelling and Impactful Content
In 2014, Andrew introduced Intuitive Content, a full-service production company that develops and produces dynamic original television and broadcast specials, while partnering with companies to create brand-driven series and web content. Intuitive Content’s first television series, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, premiered on Travel Channel in August 2016. In Driven by Food, Andrew takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes adventure, exploring food and culture from a whole new perspective with a local guide. In their second series, The Zimmern List, Andrew reveals his favorite food experiences in cities across the globe. Season two of The Zimmern List premiered in December 2018 and in 2019 won a Taste Award for “Best Food Travel Series” as well as a Silver Telly Award. In their latest series, Andrew traveled the U.S. in search of passionate food truck entrepreneurs on Big Food Truck Tip, which aired on Food Network last fall.
Beyond television, Intuitive Content works with clients on branded entertainment, including a partnership with Renaissance Hotels to create The Navigator’s Table and with Caribou Coffee to film Behind the ‘Bou, which profiles their commitment to high quality beans and sustainable Rainforest Alliance Certification. Intuitive Content’s recent digital work includes Andrew in the Kitchen, a companion cooking series to Bizarre Foods that was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2018, and Bravo TV’s Beats + Bites with the Potash Twins, which explores the intersection of music and food, and the creative process that all artists share. In 2019, Beats + Bites was awarded the “Great Taste Prize: Hollywood Tastemakers” by the Taste Awards and a Bronze Telly Award.
Andrew has been nominated for 12 James Beard Awards and has won awards for “TV Food Personality” (2010), “TV Program on Location” (2012), and “Outstanding Personality/Host” (2013 and 2017). In 2016, Andrew was named one of “America’s 50 Most Powerful People in Food” by The Daily Meal, one of the “30 Most Influential People in Food” by Adweek and as one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.” In 2017, Andrew won the award for Best Host at the Cynopsis TV Awards. According to Eater, “Zimmern knows more about the foods of the world and the history of modern gastronomy than anyone else in our solar system. He’s a walking, talking food encyclopedia, and a true omnivore.” Andrew has appeared as a guest judge on Chopped and Top Chef, and was chosen as a mentor for Season 2 of Food Network’s All-Star Academy.
Delicious Life
When he’s not sampling unusual dishes at home and abroad, Andrew teaches entrepreneurship and offers insights on food issues to the students of The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College. Through the James Beard Foundation he funds Andrew Zimmern’s Second Chances Scholarship, which offers a student faced with extreme challenges an opportunity to overcome these hardships and follow a culinary path. Andrew sits on the board of directors of Services for the UnderServed, Soigne Hospitality and Taste of the NFL, and is the International Rescue Committee’s Voice for Nutrition. Other charities Andrew works with include Lovin’ Spoonfuls, ONE, Food Policy Action Committee and No Kid Hungry. In his rare downtime, Andrew relaxes in Minneapolis, spending time with family and his pug Pretzel, and reading, cooking and playing guitar.
