Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman,

food critic The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. While these terms are not strictly synonymous they are often used int ...

, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

television series ''

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Bizarre may refer to: *Bizarre (rapper) (born 1976), an American rapper and member of hip hop group D12 * Bizarre (band), a Spanish rock band * ''Bizarre'' (TV series), a Canadian sketch comedy television series * ''Bizarre'' (magazine), a siste ...

,'' ''

Bizarre Foods America ''Bizarre Foods America'' is an American television series, and a spin-off of'' Bizarre Foods'', this time focusing on the United States rather than international travel. Andrew Zimmern travels to various cities throughout the country (as well as ...

'', ''Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations'', '' Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World'', ''Dining with Death'', ''The Zimmern List'', and ''Andrew Zimmern's Driven by Food'', as well as the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

series ''The Big Food Truck Tip''. For his work on ''Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern'', he was presented the

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

four times: in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2017. Zimmern hosts a cooking webseries on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, ''Andrew Zimmern Cooks''. His show, ''What's Eating America'', premiered on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

in 2020. In November 2018, Zimmern opened a Chinese restaurant, Lucky Cricket, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Early and personal life

Zimmern was born in 1961 to Robert and Caren Zimmern and raised in New York City in a Jewish family. As a boy, he attended James Beard's legendary Christmas and Sunday open houses with his father and father's male partner, and credits Beard's hospitality for his early culinary aspirations. He began his formal culinary training at the age of 14. He attended the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located ...

and graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

. He worked at several fine dining restaurants in New York as either

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead or The Lead may also refer to: Animal handling * Leash, or lead * Lead (leg), ...

or general manager. He has also lectured on restaurant management and design at The New School for Social Research. Owing to severe drug and

alcohol addiction Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

, Zimmern was homeless for about one year."Wherein Andrew Zimmern went for the full Bourdain"
,

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

''Eatocracy'' excerpt of ''ABC Nightline'' interview, July 27, 2010. During this period, he survived by stealing purses from cafes and selling the contents. In 1992, Zimmern moved to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, where he checked into the

Hazelden The Hazelden Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden has alcohol and drug treatment facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, Washington, and New York. It offers assessment and pri ...

Treatment Center for drug and alcohol addiction treatment, where he now volunteers. He currently resides in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. He later gained wide acclaim during his four-and-a-half-year tenure as executive chef of Café Un Deux Trois in

Foshay Tower The Foshay Tower, now the W Minneapolis – The Foshay hotel, is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modeled after the Washington Monument, the building was completed in 1929, months before the stock market crash in October of that year. It ...

.Rick Nelson
Café Un Deux Trois closes its doors
''Star Tribune'', April 7, 2003, Accessed December 8, 2010. His menus received the highest ratings from the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'', ''

Minneapolis Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'', ''Minnesota Monthly'', and ''Mpls. St. Paul Magazine'', as well as national publications. Zimmern left daily restaurant operations in 1997.

Writing and food events

Zimmern is a contributing editor and award-winning monthly columnist at ''Mpls. St. Paul Magazine'' and a senior editor at ''

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

Sky Magazine''. As a freelance journalist, his work has appeared in numerous national and international publications. Zimmern has served as

SuperTarget Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

's meal adventure guide, sharing his passion for ethnic foods with supermarket customers around the country. He is the international spokesman for Travel Leaders and Elite Destination Homes. Prior to ''Bizarre Foods'', Zimmern had an extensive radio career. His shows ''Chowhounds'', ''The Andrew Zimmern Show'', and ''Food Court With Andrew Zimmern'' achieved wide popularity in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

. Zimmern was the food features reporter for

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

TV station

KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetw ...

and was also a featured contributor on both HGTV's ''Rebecca's Garden'' and ''Tip-ical Mary Ellen'', where he handled on-air food duties for both shows. He was the food and lifestyle features reporter during the 1997 season of the

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

network's nationally televised ''Everyday Living''. Andrew Zimmern Judges a Dish at the 2012 Competition

Zimmern has been a guest chef at many national charity events, food festivals, and galas, including ''Food and Wine Magazine''s Aspen Festival, the Twin Cities Food and Wine Experience, and the James Beard House in New York City. He has appeared frequently on the

's ''Best Of...'',

's ''Money and Health'', and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''Today Show''. He also starred in the Cooking Club of America's instructional video series. Zimmern regularly speaks to professional associations around the globe on all culinary matters, from the American Federation of Chefs to the Chinese Chefs National Committee. In the fall of 2002, he was an honored guest of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, traveling, lecturing, and giving demonstrations on

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...

. Zimmern's book ''The Bizarre Truth: How I Walked out the Door Mouth First ... and Came Back Shaking My Head'' was published by Broadway Books in 2009. It is a collection of his food and travel stories from around the world. He is also the author of ''Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, and Wonderful Foods'', released by Feiwel & Friends on October 30, 2012. His latest book is a grade level reader series called ''Alliance of World Explorers, Volume 1: AZ and the Lost City of Ophir'' and was released in February 2019. This book won the 2019 Gold IPPY in Juvenile Fiction. Zimmern also lends his name to a stand named Andrew Zimmern's Canteen at Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Travel Channel

'' premiered on the

with a pilot episode on November 1, 2006. The series has aired over 140 episodes, with Zimmern visiting dozens of countries and states. Bizarre Foods took home two CableFax awards in 2009, one for Best Television Program: Food, another for Best Online Extras for Andrew's web series ''Bizarre Foods in the Kitchen''. In 2009, Zimmern hosted a spinoff of ''Bizarre Foods'' called ''Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World''. A pilot and nine episodes were produced in eight countries and two states. Zimmern guest-starred in a 2007 episode of '' No Reservations'' with Anthony Bourdain in New York City; Bourdain did the same on ''Bizarre Foods''. Zimmern also appeared in a 2009 episode of ''

Man v. Food ''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big food" o ...

'' with

Adam Richman Adam Montgomery Richman is an American actor and television host. He has hosted various dining and eating-challenge programs on the Travel Channel and History Channel. Early life and education Richman, an only child, was born into a Jewish fa ...

in Minneapolis where he introduced Richman to

lutefisk ''Lutefisk'' ( Norwegian, in Northern and parts of Central Norway, in Southern Norway; sv, lutfisk ; fi, lipeäkala ; literally " lye fish") is dried whitefish (normally cod, but ling and burbot are also used). It is made from aged sto ...

. In January 2012, another spinoff of ''Bizarre Foods'', ''

'', debuted. This time Zimmern focused on various cities in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and samples local cuisines and ways of life.

Awards and recognition

In May 2010, Zimmern won the

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for Outstanding TV Food Personality. He won another James Beard Award in 2012, a third in 2013, and a fourth in 2017. His online series, ''Toyota's Appetite for Life'', won an Effie Award in 2010. Zimmern is entrepreneur-in-residence at Babson College.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmern, Andrew 1961 births Living people Jewish American writers Television personalities from New York City American food writers American television chefs American male chefs Dalton School alumni Vassar College alumni James Beard Foundation Award winners Jewish American chefs American YouTubers 21st-century American journalists Jewish American journalists MSNBC people Chefs from Minnesota American restaurateurs People from Minneapolis