Culinary icon Andrew Zimmern talks about being a birthday week person and what he feels will define the next decade of his life. He shares why he is optimistic about the ever-evolving world and the importance of elevating others to create equity before responding to a statement about being a human food encyclopedia and why he somewhat disagrees with it. He talks through his childhood in New York City and how fear, trauma and too much freedom shaped his perspective. Andrew reminisces on memories traveling the world with his late father and the myriad of cultural experiences he owes to him. He reveals the duplicitous journey to finally pitching a show and panicking to come up with thirty episodes on the spot for Bizarre Foods. Andrew describes the personal premise of his new program, Family Dinner, and why a lifelong desire to be a part of a family drove him to create it. Andrew talks about the mythical, magical power of food to bring people together before settling the great debate - is a hotdog a sandwich?
Culinary icon Andrew Zimmern talks about being a birthday week person and what he feels will define the next decade of his life. He shares why he is optimistic about the ever-evolving world and the importance of elevating others to create equity before responding to a statement about being a human food encyclopedia and why he somewhat disagrees with it. He talks through his childhood in New York City and how fear, trauma and too much freedom shaped his perspective. Andrew reminisces on memories traveling the world with his late father and the myriad of cultural experiences he owes to him. He reveals the duplicitous journey to finally pitching a show and panicking to come up with thirty episodes on the spot for Bizarre Foods. Andrew describes the personal premise of his new program, Family Dinner, and why a lifelong desire to be a part of a family drove him to create it. Andrew talks about the mythical, magical power of food to bring people together before settling the great debate - is a hotdog a sandwich?
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Jaymee Sire (00:02):
Hello and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things, food with your favorite chefs, food influencers and food network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire. And I'm so happy to be back with a brand new episode. I hope you all enjoyed your start to summer while food network obsessed was on a small break, but now we are back with brand new episodes and guests, and I am so excited to bring you today's conversation. He is a food legend and regarded as one of the most knowledgeable personalities in the food world. He's on the pod today talking about why we gather around the table and how growing up in New York city with a lot of freedom really shaped his culinary perspective. He is an Emmy award winning and four time James Beard award winning TV personality, chef, and writer. And he's the host of Magnolia networks, Family Dinner. It's Andrew Zimmern. Andrew, welcome to the podcast. You and I met while co-hosting an episode of Beat Bobby Flay that has yet to air, but I have been a fan for quite some time. So thank you so much for joining us and I wanna wish you an early happy birthday. We are recording this before your birthday, July 4th, you’re turning 61. How do you feel about birthdays in general?
Andrew Zimmern (01:29):
Love them.
Jaymee Sire (01:31):
Are you a birthday week, birthday month guy, or
Andrew Zimmern (01:35):
I'm a birthday week person because the older you get there's the family and then a dinner out with friends and then we'll have some people over to the house. So it winds up being bigger than I would like. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (02:22):
And there's fireworks,
Andrew Zimmern (02:24):
Fireworks. And there, it's not a gift giving thing. Yeah. Right. It's not Christmas. That's true. Right. So it's a great birthday to have. I do firmly believe age is a number. I guess I'm blessed that when I tell people my age that they're generally surprised I was well, thank you. It's very kind. So it's what my number is. I'm a big believer of continuing to do and do and do and do in life. So I'm just gonna keep on doing.
Jaymee Sire (02:57):
Well. That said, how do you, how do you feel like this next decade is going to be defined?
Andrew Zimmern (03:02):
My best ever.
Jaymee Sire (03:04):
Andrew Zimmern (03:05):
And I don't say that in sort of a trite greeting card way or in that traditional sort of, Hey, we have to psych ourselves up to survive in, in the world today. The world is very tough today. It's very divisive. It's changing very, very quickly, especially for those of us in the world of entertainment and media. That's one of the silos that is changing the fastest. Although, as someone who works on a lot of different projects, every other industry out there is changing just as fast as ours mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (04:00):
There were 500 companies represented across the, I mean from construction companies to media companies, right. And everything in between and every single lawyer, corporate governance officer and lawyer that I spoke to said the same thing. Everything in our industry is changing. And it made me realize that that's, that's one of the things contributing to sort of like the general angst on we and free floating anxiety. That society feels at large. So why am I so bullish about the decade ahead? I'm neither glass half full or half empty. I'm a, I, I'm a strong believer that the glass is refillable. Mm. And I believe in, in human beings to change things, I believe in the youngest, what is the name of the youngest generation? That, or is it gen Z?
Jaymee Sire (04:50):
I think we're at gen Z. Now we're running on letters.
Andrew Zimmern (04:53):
Okay. Yeah. So, so I believe in that generation and the one behind it, my, my son's generation, I guess, would be sub gen Z.
Jaymee Sire (05:03):
Andrew Zimmern (05:04):
And, and, and I just, I think the capacity for humankind to solve problems is undervalued and understated. We have always found a way to solve our problems. And so I have a tremendous amount of hope for myself. Personally, I've spent decades trying to create businesses, nonprofits to develop a platform that allows me to solve problems in areas of life that I believe I can contribute to. And I got there at age 60. And so now that, that the next decade is enjoying, you know, I'll give you an example. My production company started out just producing stuff for me for the travel channel. Right. Mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (06:08):
That's the, the sort of like when someone says, what are you doing to, to, to do your part for that? It's like by lifting up other people, you know, we, we just completed a series with a hmong chef named Yia Vang who is the monger, an, an ethnic tribal people from Southeastern Asia, mountainous people. They've never had their own country. And the largest number of hmong came to Minnesota in the seventies. And they're very, very, very proud people with incredible food. And we did this amazing series with Yia and I'm so excited to be able to elevate hmong with the statement that it makes is that their cuisine is as valid as any others. Right. And, and if you extend the idea of food to people, their people are as valid that's, that is the essence of what social justice and equity is all about.
Andrew Zimmern (07:09):
And so it's a, it's a really cool thing. I'm finally, now that COVID is over, I'm an ambassador for the United Nations world food program, and a couple other big independent international rescue committees that Einstein founded in 1939. I do a lot of work with Tony Milland in that group. So I'm finally getting back over to Africa and into some places that are experiencing crisis and conflict, and being able to tell stories over there to help move the needle to help that part of the world. So it's, that's sort of like, what's ahead. Mm-Hmm,
Jaymee Sire (08:21):
I love that. I love, you know, like you said, you know, change is coming it's here. And it can be really scary, but I think if you embrace it, you know, that that can be really exciting. And you can hear the excitement in your voice about what's to come over the next 10 years.
Andrew Zimmern (08:38):
I hope everyone's circled what you just said, because that to me is one of the, your, your suggestion for listeners to embrace change is something that in my experience is the only change is going to happen. It is inevitable. Everything changes, therefore as human beings, the only thing we can control is our, is our thoughts and attitudes about something mm-hmm
Jaymee Sire (09:06):
Andrew Zimmern (09:08):
Seriously. I mean, if anyone thinks about it, that is the only thing that we have control over.
Jaymee Sire (09:13):
It's so true.
Andrew Zimmern (09:14):
You can, you can wanna have a BLT sandwich, all you want for lunch
Jaymee Sire (09:41):
Yeah, I think so, too. I think that's the only way to continue to evolve and, and move along in this life. And, and I wanna talk about the life you've lived too, because that is wildly interesting and vast there's this quote from eater about you that says Zimmern knows more about the foods of the world and the history of modern astronomy than anyone else in our solar system, he is a walking, talking, food encyclopedia, and a true omnivore. First of all, do you agree with that statement?
Andrew Zimmern (10:13):
No.
Jaymee Sire (10:14):
Andrew Zimmern (10:15):
It's extremely flattering. I think I am one of the people who is that, and, and I think that's really important. None of us have that level of terminal uniqueness. Mm I've been so lucky and so blessed in my life that the series of jobs, events, opportunities have added up to my, having a front row seat to more flavors, more techniques, more wisdom, more learning, but I could have ignored all that. I'm a vacuum of learning. I, I am, I am so insanely curious about any new thing that I see. It's dangerous. You know, our board here at my office is like every week they tell me, stop doing new stuff. And I was like, well, that's how I learn.
Andrew Zimmern (11:21):
That, that being said, when I talk to them, they've, they've not visited 177 countries. They've not eaten with 26 of the now I think 42 or 44 protected first peoples of the world, folks that you can't go in and spend time with, unless you do it through the government and are approved by not only the tribal elders, whatever governance system they have, but by the conservation officers assigned to keep those peoples safe. Wow. And living they’re in an ancient pathway. I've had the opportunity to do that. I think as the world has been closing down around us and becoming more divisive, I think it's harder and harder to do it. I'm you know, the, the, Souk at Aleppo in Syria was written about in the Bible and in the Bible, it calls it the oldest market. Wow. And the, basically the place where everyone should shop
Andrew Zimmern (12:36):
And it is in every ancient text, they mention that's the only market that's in all of them. It's been bombed into rubble. It doesn't exist anymore. Not only did I spend three days eating and learning and talking to people who are there I still have honey and tahini, wow, from that market. And I, it's dried and crusty in the bottom of a, of a jar, both, but I refuse to use the last spoonful. I still have the jar because of what it represents. It's the last of its kind. Mm. And I find those sorts of things fascinating. So have I had those experiences that other people do not have? Sure. I, I also tend to I, I can't tell you what a colleague said to me yesterday morning on a given topic, I tend to dispose of that information really quickly.
Andrew Zimmern (13:39):
Andrew Zimmern (14:43):
And they would take a pile of sea salt and put it in. They would criss cross their legs, you know, criss cross applesauce mm-hmm
Jaymee Sire (15:58):
That's how you pass it along.
Andrew Zimmern (16:00):
We learned things. Yeah. We learned things that way, you know? And I've just been in a lot of places. I'm very, very lucky.
Jaymee Sire (16:09):
You talk about this, this desire to learn new things constantly. Let's talk about where that came from, because you grew up in New York city as the child of two creatives. You describe yourself as the ultimate latchkey kid, but I'm curious, how did that upbringing really initiate this desire to explore and experiment the way that you do?
Andrew Zimmern (16:34):
The, the greatest human motivator evolve, fear.
Jaymee Sire (16:37):
Andrew Zimmern (16:38):
And human beings don't change when you're fat, dumb and happy. I've spent a lot of years fat, dumb, and happy. So I've analyzed this.
Jaymee Sire (16:48):
Andrew Zimmern (16:49):
I don’t learn, well l don't learn a lot when things are going well, you know, if you make blueberry muffins out of, you know, an Ina Garten cookbook and they turn out perfectly, you're like, well, I got that nailed
Andrew Zimmern (17:44):
Right? Mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (18:39):
I was still an absolute wreck. So it's really been the last 20 years that the healthy chickens have come home to roost
Andrew Zimmern (19:30):
Mm. My dad was a very intimate friend of James Beard. Craig Clayborn, the, the whole west village gay food mafia was, was where I, I grew up in a Laka full family. My dad, who was a a Navy veteran world war II, you know, three years in the south Pacific scene, horrific action came back a, you know, a, a, a, a leader at University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he went to school, helped build a giant size company in New York and was very successful by anyone's standards was also a very closeted gay man until 1966. When he came out to certain members of his family, my mother always knew she just loved him so much, and he wanted a child. So they married and had me. And then my father met the love of his life, who he was in a relationship with from 1966, till 2017, when they both passed away.
Andrew Zimmern (20:36):
Finally in the last years of their life, being able to marry legally in the state of Maine, where they had moved, but to have two dads who nurtured me and loved me in a very, very educational, gracious, loving, kind, empathetic way. And a mother who wrote books about shells and, and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America allowed me to see culture in the world in a much, much different way than most young people do. I had to spend two weeks out of the month with my dad, right? Your parents are separating mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (21:29):
Andrew Zimmern (22:39):
And that's how he survived. That's how he survived the trauma of being a young gay man growing up in the twenties and thirties in New York. It's how he survived in the south Pacific. It's how he survived heavily closeted in the business community of New York in the fifties, which was not the business community of New York in the seventies, which was more open in forgiving. But, you know, my dad's lived through Stonewall and all the other events of the sixties and into the seventies and eighties, and saw 80% of their friends die of aids and all of that stuff. And so it's a, you know, his life was not easy either. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (23:41):
Yeah. I think, I think, you know, he'll, he'll look back and be appreciative of those. And, and I know your dad is, is obviously, you know, so was so proud of you and what you've, you know, become and made of your life and, and really carrying on, you know, his passion for travel and learning. And, and obviously people know you for doing that on your iconic show, Bizarre Foods. Mm-Hmm
Andrew Zimmern (24:15):
Oh, it was the worst
Jaymee Sire (24:31):
I feel like you gotta bring that back for something.
Andrew Zimmern (24:33):
Jaymee Sire (25:24):
Andrew Zimmern (25:25):
so we would actually like Xerox the art and cut it and glue it and make these folders
Jaymee Sire (25:32):
Like a science project.
Andrew Zimmern (25:33):
Andrew Zimmern (26:32):
I got to have a meeting with an executive. I didn't know that she didn't even have a cubicle. She had to borrow someone else's cubicle, but we met and I pitched her on this idea and she thought I was interesting and funny. And of course it went absolutely nowhere today. She is today. She is running the Magnolia network and is my boss. She's your boss. Yeah. Today. which I love, but you know, it, it was, you know, no one wanted to hear this idea. And finally it was actually through pitching to Allison. I decided I don't wanna, there are so many shows on the food network. I would just be lost. I would be put on Sunday morning at 6:00 AM and no one would see it and it would die.
Andrew Zimmern (27:22):
One of my mentors had taught me it's better to be the only than to be the best. Mm. And I've taken that advice to heart. And I said, I'm, I'm gonna be the only, so I, I lied my way into a median travel channel.
Andrew Zimmern (28:15):
And Pat, it was confirmed for him that he wanted to build a, a network of immersive explorers. And so I go into the room and I pitch him on, I go around the world telling these really serious stories about culture, through food, focusing on the conflict, the crisis, the need for all the things that I believe in now mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (29:10):
Wow. And I went back to my hotel, I said, do I get a half hour of your time tomorrow to pitch you again? He said, sure. And I went back to my hotel room. And my hook that I thought of was stories from the fringe that no one else has told about not chicken breast, but more fermented whale spleen, right.
Andrew Zimmern (30:03):
And I just started telling one story from every country. And I just kept going around the world with things that I had seen with my mom or, and dad. Right. Mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (30:55):
And then they harden the air, dry the shell, the, the outside. So that the, the, when you open up the cheese, the maggots have been living inside of there forever eating and pooping. And that's why the cheese is so creamy and very illegal now, but very delicious
Andrew Zimmern (31:51):
The third one did a 10th of a point less. And there was just this agonizing groan in the production company in my mind because you want to see steady growth to, to get more. And I knew I had the faith in the network, but I was, I was kind of upset. And the phone rang on a Wednesday afternoon, right after I had gotten the ratings from my agent. And it was the tonight show. And the third episode, one of the bookers had seen, and it was me and Ecuador and I had gone into a shaman's house and he had lit me on fire poured, basically gasoline on me and lit me on fire, beat me with these branches of a poisonous shrub that caused these welts all over my body, broken eggs on me, beat Guinea pigs against me until they expired. I mean, this, he basically was performing what in, in translation was an exorcism.
Andrew Zimmern (32:46):
Mm. And it was very funny. He kept spitting on me because his, his bathing me in his own spit was going to exercise these demons and help draw them out. And it's a very funny 60 seconds of television
Andrew Zimmern (33:41):
my first season, we were both on Mondays. Then he put me on Tuesdays and that was it. I mean, the, the luck had the Leno bookers not seen the show. I don't think we'd be sitting here talking to each other. Mm. You, you have to have a lot of luck. You do. To expose the audience to a show fast enough. In other words, the, the audience has to find a program, right. And so that's why most programmers are interested in episodes 3, 4, 5. They wanna see the number once it it, and see how is an audience finding it and how are they responding? Right. Episode one could be the benefit of a lot of on air programming, just on the network. That's gonna air it. Right. Mm-hmm
Jaymee Sire (35:16):
Coming up next. Andrew tells us about family dinner on Magnolia networks. So stick around.
Jaymee Sire (35:27):
The connection that you do form with that audience is, is so invaluable. But as you mentioned, you know, they, the audience has to find it first in order to feel that connection. But I think that that's why your new show on Magnolia network is, is so interesting because you're continuing, you know, to tell these stories and to make these connections with people that you're featuring. It's, you're basically visiting families across the country. You're exploring how the cultural, regional historical facets of, of who we are inform what and how we eat. And you're, you're literally sitting down at these dinner tables with these, with these families and, and breaking bread with them and hearing their stories. And I saw an interview that you said, it, it, you think it's the best show you've ever made. So I'm curious what, what makes this show so special?
Andrew Zimmern (36:13):
I think what comes from the heart reaches the heart. I don't make it special. The, the, the people we visit make it special. I wrote that line about that one sentence description of the show. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (37:20):
Just work it in subtly.
Andrew Zimmern (37:22):
Work it in, and you'll be more effective to more people. And Pat was right. With Family Dinner I never, my big family was taken away from me. I lost a big family with divorces and deaths and people moving away and addiction and alcoholism and just life. And I have been in, I have been seeking out a, another family to take me in for a meal forever. I mean, that's why I've, I, I try to explain to people, everything that I've done in television for 20 years is about going to someone's house for dinner
Andrew Zimmern (38:31):
And they were like, fantastic. And we put some we hadn't even put casting people in front of, we hadn't even given them an alternate, but we got a call from the network about 10 days after they had come here to our office to meet about this project. And they said, would you do it? And I said, well, sure. But I didn't know we were talking about a show for me. And they said, well, we weren't, but you were talking about it. So you know, passionately and with, you know, we started to think like, we, we, we need someone like you to do it. And then we realized there's not a lot of people like you mm-hmm
Andrew Zimmern (39:28):
I mean, I, I walk in and let the families tell their stories and everyone can relate to it. And the timing with COVID and with the cultural upheavals of our day, I think people really like seeing another family talk about how valuable it is to spend time with each other. That that's the, that's the only way that we can solve our relationship issues, brother to sister, sister to sister, mother to child, grandmother to grandchild, whatever the combination is, aunt or uncle to niece or nephew, vice versa. Everyone can relate to that. So it's a very simple, simple idea, but it works pretty well.
Jaymee Sire (40:12):
Yeah. I mean, and it seems like these people also just feel comfortable and, and, and ready to open up and share some, you know, emotional stories. I think back at some of my other conversations on this podcast, and we've talked about how, you know, food has this magical power almost of, you know, bringing people together. Why do you think that is?
Andrew Zimmern (40:31):
We swim in it. We, we have emerged and, and I'll take you back 35,000 years when we stopped hunting and gathering and started living in collections of humanity. We told stories over campfires and we decorated cave walls with those stories, you know, 10,000 years later, we started recording them on Papyrus. 10,000 years after that, we invented the printing press, you know, 400, 500 years after that we invented radio. And you know, 80 years after that, you know, television, now look where we are. We carry around devices in our pockets that we can take pictures and transmit them to the other side of the world. We can look at live video. I mean it's amazing the power of that device that's in our pockets. Mm-Hmm,
Andrew Zimmern (41:37):
I'm a strong believer that I challenge anyone in the 80% of Americans that have a regular food life. Cause we have to remember who we're talking about here. 20% to 24% of Americans, 800 billion people globally do not have a food life, but for the rest that do, life happens in the kitchen. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (43:16):
You, you can have that
Andrew Zimmern (43:19):
But it, when you take away rice, when you take away bread, that is the stuff that revolutions are made of. That is the stuff that blood runs in the streets we live and swim in food. People joke. I mean, it's been popular to say, oh, food is my love language. Like everyone has that as their little sign off on their email and stuff, at least in, in our business Uhhuh. Right? It, it, I'm sure you hear it a hundred times a day. It's almost a cliche. Mm-Hmm
Andrew Zimmern (44:10):
And anyone listening to this podcast has probably seen the movie at least once, but Stanley Tuchi and Tony Shalu are two brothers. And the, the previous 24 hours does not go well for them. And Stanley Tuchi gets up at the end of the movie and makes eggs and toast in silence for his brother. And they eat it at the movie ends and not a word is spoken. And yet it's the most arguably Moore's communicated in that simple act about, about love, about conquering, our fears about survival, about our humanity in the last 90 seconds of that movie than in the previous two hours filled with brilliant script writing. But you can't write anything that meets up with what happens when someone makes somebody else some scrambled eggs.
Jaymee Sire (45:01):
Hmm. Oh, wow.
Andrew Zimmern (45:10):
You never ask me over. You never invite me. Yeah,
Jaymee Sire (45:14):
Listen, I have, there's a standing, standing invitation. Next time you're in New York, you are welcome to come to my apartment and I will, I will cook you some food and we will, we will share a meal together because I, yeah, I have, I have so many questions that we did not get to. So we're gonna have to do a part two at some point.
Andrew Zimmern (45:30):
Sorry. I talked too much.
Jaymee Sire (45:32):
No, no, please.
Andrew Zimmern (45:33):
Everyone. I talked too much. I apologize.
Jaymee Sire (45:35):
Do not apologize. Do not apologize. I, I enjoyed it so immensely and I, and I know that our listeners did as well. So we are gonna finish things off with a little rapid fire round. And then we have one final question for you here on Food Network Obsessed. All right. Rapid fire questions. Favorite food movie.
Andrew Zimmern (45:52):
Eat Drink Man Woman.
Jaymee Sire (45:55):
Oh, Favorite Minnesota dinner spot.
Andrew Zimmern (45:59):
My house.
Jaymee Sire (46:00):
Andrew Zimmern (46:05):
Culvers. Oh my God. fa-, and I'm going literally with fast food. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Culvers, Culvers and Culvers.
Jaymee Sire (46:16):
Andrew Zimmern (46:18):
I, I, I think all the others I'm talking about strictly fast fooders do not work. And the most overrated hamburger in the world is at In-N-Out.
Jaymee Sire (46:28):
Andrew Zimmern (46:33):
Oh, I talk about it all the time. I love it's my favorite conversation to have. I don't get it.
Jaymee Sire (46:38):
Do you, do you like that conversation better or it, if a hot dog is a sandwich?
Andrew Zimmern (46:44):
The former
Andrew Zimmern (46:59):
That's settled law.
Jaymee Sire (47:00):
That's settled law. Okay. a Midwest food tradition. One might find bizarre
Andrew Zimmern (47:08):
Lutefisk, although it's dying but we have so many Scandinavians in the upper Midwest. They brought with them a method of taking salt Cod. And instead of just rehydrating it and cooking it like the rest of the world does, they were gonna soak it and lie until it turns to inedible poisonous fish jelly
Jaymee Sire (47:41):
Andrew Zimmern (47:45):
It, it boggles it boggle, especially being a globalist, because I've been in so many cultures where salt Cod simply rehydrated in France it makes brandade. In Italy it's, it's a baccala that's fried in fingers at Filettaro, at you know, in the, in the, in the Latino world, in, in 26 countries it's turned into a baccala that's just incredible, you know, fried broiled, baked steamed. I mean, it's just salt cod is fantastic. And then the Scandinavians had to like, do this weird thing to it. And then when I went to Scandinavia, I found out it's more of a tradition in Minnesota than it is in all the Scandinavian countries combined. So yikes.
Jaymee Sire (48:29):
Who knew? Yeah. All right. Favorite bite and least favorite bite on Bizarre foods?
Andrew Zimmern (48:35):
Wow. I mean, 900 shows later. Woo
Andrew Zimmern (48:40):
Least favorite bite that just comes to mind right away was a pizza in Isan Province at a night market. My producer was trying to find a little button for our segment there. And he saw that someone was making pizza. It was like a frozen cracker bread that they put some of the worst Americanized style emulsified sausages on
Andrew Zimmern (49:51):
They, you know, they're the size, they're bigger than basketballs. Wow. I’m talking about the meat inside the shells or twice the three, four times the size of basketballs, but in Samoa where they were protected that the tsunami has wiped out. A lot of them and the tribal people that had the right to fish them, they were allowed to take like two a year for special meals. We were there when they were harvesting one. So stuff like that where I know I'm the only, I'm, I'm one of the only people in the world to, to ever eat 3000 year old butter. I'm one of the only people who has eaten you know, honey truffles taken from the desert where they believe lightning strikes grow them in the Souk in Aleppo, it's destroyed now. So, you know, it's those kinds of things.
Andrew Zimmern (50:40):
But when it comes down to saying that everyone can go get in rural Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, they will deep fry, baby ducklings and chicks and pour nước mắm, or a seasoned fish sauce, condiment outside of Vietnam, where it would be called something else, onto something. Mm. And onto those little fried birds. And I, I just, it it's as close to Orlon, which I ate in France once very illegally, but it's, they are unbelievable. You take the beak and you eat them with this sauce. And I just talking about them makes my toes curl.
Jaymee Sire (51:20):
Andrew Zimmern (51:50):
Sure. It's very easy. Okay.
Jaymee Sire (52:19):
Love that. Oh my gosh.
Andrew Zimmern (52:20):
And we, we believe that my great grandfather, while very poor, would've stopped by there in the more saved up to have something there. We knew he lived two blocks away and worked in the neighborhood. So he had to walk by there all the time. He was poor than poor could be, but I have to assume one day he would save up and buy a bagel there. Right. So that's five generations of our family. So my, my and I'm lucky that I, I get a chance sometimes to eat behind the counter, so to speak. So I, I would start my day there at, at Russ & Daughters because I feel like a raindrop entering the river when I'm sitting there. For lunch,
Jaymee Sire (53:01):
But what are you getting there? What are you getting at Russ & Daughters for breakfast?
Andrew Zimmern (53:03):
Oh, I'm, I'm getting everything bagel, lightly toasted, gas based salmon, double red onion, and yeah that's my, and, and some white fish salad. A little bit of chopped liver on the side. I mean, I like a little smorgasboard there
Andrew Zimmern (54:25):
And I never got to cook for her. And she taught me, I mean, the stuff that I make at all of the I'm Jewish, all of our holidays, some of the most popular ones on our website. I mean, there must be 40,
Jaymee Sire (55:10):
Andrew Zimmern (55:12):
In that tiny apartment where she would cook for 19 people in, in a space that might, my couch I'm sitting on in my office is bigger than that kitchen. I don't know how she did it. But I would want her to taste that, that food and share it with her now that I appreciate what it meant to me.
Jaymee Sire (55:32):
Yeah. No, I mean, that's really beautiful. And I think we, we all, you know, long for those opportunities to, to go back and, and, and share a meal with loved ones that we can't do that with anymore. So yeah. I think that's really beautiful. And now you're making me cry.
Andrew Zimmern (56:02):
Thank you. I, I, a pleasure to be invited and thank you for telling the stories that you do and allowing for so many voices to be heard. I, I enjoy your work immensely and getting to meet you a couple months ago in New York was a, a highlight of this year for me. And I will take you up. We will, we will go break bread together at some point.
Jaymee Sire (56:20):
Yes, we will. Thank you.
Jaymee Sire (56:27):
Wow. That was an incredible conversation. I could hear him talk about food and travel and, and life really for hours on end. We're definitely gonna have to do a part two at some point. And it's so great to hear that he's not slowing down anytime soon either. You can watch Family Dinner on Magnolia Network Sundays at eight, seven central, and you can stream the first two seasons now on Discovery Plus. hanks so much for listening and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it. When you do that, that's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.