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Food + Activism = Global Change
World-renowned chef Andrew Zimmern has explored the great global food scene and shares incredible stories from his journeys around the world with a powerful prescriptive message of sustainability, equity, and social justice. Zimmern believes you really can change the planet one meal at a time. His talks are enlightening and always entertaining as he inspires audiences to learn about the world and other cultures from the perspective of the board room and the dinner table.
Overcoming Adversity: Becoming a Resilient Leader
World-renowned chef and entrepreneur Andrew Zimmern shares his deeply personal journey with addiction and sobriety and how he found his calling to tell stories through food and travel adventures. Balancing personal and professional moments of adversity, Zimmern offers an inspiring of hope, perseverance, and how to become a better leader through resilience. From navigating uncertainty to “co-regulating before operationalizing” to learning how to “act your way into right thinking,” Zimmern’s message is a blend of personal experience and his own prescription for resiliency and success.
Virtual Interactive Cooking Demos with Andrew Zimmern
World-renowned chef Andrew Zimmern knows how to engage your virtual audience and create magical events from his professional cooking studio. He can even share the recipes in advance so guests can have the thrill of cooking along with Andrew. What separates Andrew, however, is all that he is doing outside of the kitchen to bolster the restaurant industry, and the insights he has gained as a passionate student of what food says about us as people, families and a country. While he cooks, he chats about these insights and the many projects he is working on to bring us closer together - in meaningful ways- through food.
Food: A Global Perspective on the State of our Food Life
Andrew Zimmern takes you with him for a whirlwind tour of his world travels, informing and entertaining as he connects the audience to both his "boots on the ground" experience and his philosophies of both food and life. His amazing stories cover everything from the great global food scene to how you really can change the planet one meal at a time, as he's experienced firsthand breaking bread (or other things!) with people from Syria and China to Cuba and the Kalahari desert. Inspiring, enlightening and always entertaining, Zimmern shows that the world is truly getting smaller, and that the best place to learn about it and other cultures, is at the dinner table, not in a museum.
The Adventure of Recovery
Stay far away from what William James called the evil of "contempt prior to investigation". Andrew Zimmern has used this motto as a bedrock of both his personal and professional life. While most people know him as the host of his own wildly popular TV show, they might not know that he is also a survivor of drug addiction, alcoholism, and homelessness. Now in his 21st year of sobriety, his inspiring and funny story is a prescription for hope that can be applied to anyone regardless of their life situation. Zimmern grew up on the upper east side of NYC, was a daily drug user from the age of 15, and lay dying in a hospital bed at age 21 of acute alcohol poisoning. He continued to abuse drugs and booze for another 10 years before going homeless and off the grid in 1990. Drinking himself to death in a flop house hotel in January of 1992, he had a life-changing experience that saw him check into rehab, sober up, and stay clean. Devoting himself to helping others, his life changed, and his show Bizarre Foods is a direct result of his channeling that life choice, telling his stories through food and travel adventures. Zimmern combines his personal and professional stories in an audio and video presentation detailing his fall and rise, his experiences in recovery, and how those lessons have informed his life as a husband, adoptive father and activist for the social issues he holds dearest. Zimmern believes that the best way to change the world is to share a meal with a stranger and his family, telling stories from the fringe as you seek to learn about the world and yourself in the global classroom of the traveler's universe. His funny and inspiring message spans both the personal and the professional, and he gladly exemplifies the necessity for a public face to be put on the private hell of addiction.
Virtual Programming: Incorporating a mental health component to your program is an important and timely addition. Combining it with star power draws a virtual crowd and keeps the discussion upbeat, with substantive storytelling to leave audiences feeling more connected, less alone, and hopeful
More hosts are incorporating the topic of mental health into their programming, especially as Coronavirus has disrupted so many aspects of our lives at home, at work, and at play. Programs vary from light-hearted, interactive wellness breaks to head-on discussions about struggle and recovery. Combining the discussion with star power draws a virtual crowd and keeps the discussion upbeat, with substantive storytelling to leave audiences feeling more connected, less alone, and hopeful. Despite their public personas, many of our celebrity speakers openly share their vulnerabilities as a source of strength for others.
Wide receiver BRANDON MARSHALL shares his experience with borderline personality disorder and mental health advocacy; fan favorite RICKI LAKE speaks about loss, including her husband’s suicide; MARIA SHRIVER discusses overcoming family traumas; celebrity chef and activist ANDREW ZIMMERN shares the ongoing wellbeing and mental health care he prioritizes as a survivor of drug addiction, alcoholism, and homelessness; #1 NYT bestselling author GLENNON DOYLE advocates for authentic living according to our own truths as the only path to wholeness; celebrity chef PADMA LAKSHMI shares her tips for mental health amid personal health struggles; former First Lady of Canada (and mom of the current President!) MARGARET TRUDEAU shares her struggle with bi-polar disorder; Emmy-winning talk show host TAMRON HALL discusses how her mental health was affected during her infertility struggles; megawatt superstar CHARLIZE THERON discusses her experiences with depression; power broker SCOOTER BRAUN and Football Hall of Famer TONY GONZALEZ recently shared in conversation about the importance of vulnerability; Army veteran, actor and survivor JR MARTINEZ speaks about healing physically, spiritually and mentally after his convoy was attacked in Iraq. Grief expert DAVID KESSLER literally wrote the book on processing loss, and speaks as both a grieving father of a lost child and a clinician. For powerful programs that make a difference, contact HWA to discuss incorporating a mental health component to your event.
Andrew Zimmern moves from entertainer to advocate and sounds off on America's food and restaurant crisis while fighting global hunger and food waste
James Beard Award-Winning Chef and Anthropologist ANDREW ZIMMERN is a well-known voice in the food industry, and is using his influence for good. Involved in the U.N. Food Program as a Goodwill Ambassador, Zimmern uses his platform to fight against global hunger and food waste and to challenge people everywhere to take action in cultivating a food system that's sustainable and equitable, during and beyond this unprecedented time in global history. As the Washington Post points out, Zimmern is moving from entertainer to advocate and is saving America one plate at a time. "It's no longer shameful in America that people don't have food. It's criminal," Zimmern says. "We can't have hungry people. There needs to be leadership at the federal level to make it the law of the land."
If you've caught any episodes of his MSNBC show, What's Eating America, you know that Zimmern is also outspoken about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and restaurant industry. He is one of the founders of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, fighting to save restaurants affected by Covid-19 by lobbying Congress for relief acts and raising funds to support struggling restaurateurs and their staffs. He recently appeared on the The Big Know, a self-care podcast for Covid-19 to discuss Feeding Our Wellbeing and the impact of COVID-19 on food and restaurants throughout America. In support of his TV productions, Andrew runs a full production company and is virtual-ready at the highest level. From social conversations to light-hearted cooking demonstrations, a virtual program with Andrew will be beautifully produced.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Legendary chef and TV personality Andrew Zimmern has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food
ANDREW ZIMMERN looks at food as an anthropologist: Experiencing food is sharing culture. It is the essential element of our human existence and impacts the way we gather, share, and connect as families and communities. That human element drives Andrew’s social activism, including co-founding the Independent Restaurant Coalition, fighting to save restaurants affected by Covid-19 by lobbying Congress for relief acts and raising funds to support struggling restaurateurs and their staffs. It is also the underlying premise of his food-based cultural shows: What’s Eating America on MSNBC and Family Dinner, which will air on the forthcoming Magnolia Network. As the creator, executive producer and host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods franchise, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food and Emmy-nominated The Zimmern List, Andrew’s lens is always about cultural understanding and acceptance. While Andrew is a four-time James Beard Award recipient and accomplished restaurateur, his shows are not about food; instead they are about what the food represents - the ideas we share and understanding we cultivate when we prepare it and gather around to enjoy it. He approaches the topic with sensitivity and humility, openly recalling the times he received help from strangers and community during his period of addiction and homelessness.
In support of his TV productions, Andrew runs a full production company and is virtual-ready at the highest level. From social conversations to light-hearted cooking demonstrations, a virtual program with Andrew will be beautifully produced.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Live virtual cooking demos and industry insight with the Legendary Chef Andrew Zimmern
ANDREW ZIMMERN is the legendary chef, traveler, TV personality, and host of “What’s Eating America” on MSNBC. In this virtual fireside chat "Travel From Home," Zimmern shares his thoughts on how the stay-at-home orders motivated people to turn to cooking for comfort. Want a live virtual cooking demo at your next event? Zimmern is fully set-up to deliver. Want to challenge him to a live virtual cook-off? Game on!
On MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Zimmern talks about food plants, factories, and farms becoming the next coronavirus hotspots. In Esquire, he writes how COVID-19 raised a mirror to the parts of our food systems that don’t work and in a recent interview with Beyond Normal podcast: Andrew Zimmern sounds off on America's food, restaurant crisis.
Whether you’re looking for a lighthearted virtual program or an in-depth discussion on the most interconnected global industry on the planet – the food industry – Zimmern is prepared to deliver.
Andrew Zimmern Cooks Live: Gyu Don
An Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and teacher, Andrew Zimmern (andrewzimmern.com) is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable personalities in the food world. As the creator, executive producer and host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods franchise, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food and Emmy-winning The Zimmern List, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food. In 2020, Andrew returned to television with the MSNBC series What's Eating America. His latest series, Family Dinner, airs on Chip & Joanna Gaines’ new Magnolia Network and streams on Discovery+.
A Taste of the Good—and Bad— Life
Andrew knew from a young age he wanted a career in food. After attending The Dalton School and Vassar College, he cooked in New York City restaurants for Anne Rosenzweig, Joachim Splichal and Thomas Keller, amongst others. Andrew helped open and run a dozen restaurants, and at the same time was also an addict spiraling out of control. After a year spent living on the streets, an intervention by close friends brought him to the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. Transforming his life around sobriety, Andrew took a job washing dishes at Minneapolis’ Café Un Deux Trois. In 1992, he was named executive chef and during his six-year tenure, turned Un Deux Trois into an awarded, national caliber restaurant.
Making Moves in the Media
Andrew's menu at Un Deux Trois 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. Eventually he found a job as a features reporter for the 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 pilot for the show that ultimately became Bizarre Foods. Since Bizarre Foods first aired in 2006, he’s created the spin offs Bizarre World, Bizarre Foods America and Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations.
In 1997, Andrew founded the Minneapolis-based, multi-media company Food Works. A full-service operation that develops and manages content, Food Works oversees his digital, print and social initiatives, including podcasting, his website (andrewzimmern.com) and publishing projects.
Andrew’s first book, The Bizarre Truth (Broadway, 2009), offers a behind-the-scenes look at cultures in his favorite destinations. Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs and Blood Sausage (Delacorte, 2011) gives 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 (Feiwel & Friends, 2012) is a pop culture-influenced look at fantastic and bizarre ingredients. His latest offering, a grade level reader series called Alliance of World Explorers, Volume 1: AZ and the Lost City of Ophir was released in February 2019 and won the Gold IPPY in Juvenile Fiction.
Creating Compelling and Impactful Content
In 2014, Andrew founded 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 digital content. In 2021, Intuitive Content was named one of the top 100 production companies in the world by Realscreen.
In 2020, Intuitive Content created the MSNBC series What’s Eating America, which explores the most provocative stories of our time told from Andrew’s singular perspective with his passion for politics, people, food and travel. In their latest series, Family Dinner, Andrew visits families across America to explore how the cultural, regional, and historical facets of who we are inform what and how we eat. Family Dinner airs on Chip & Joanna Gaines’ new Magnolia Network and steams on Discovery+. In 2022, they will premiere Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen on the Outdoor Channel.
Intuitive Content’s first television series, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, premiered on Travel Channel in August 2016. In their second series, The Zimmern List, Andrew reveals his favorite food experiences in cities across the country. In 2020, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program.” Other Intuitive Content series include Big Food Truck Tip, Crash Test World, Zoe Bakes and How to Survive a Murder.
Beyond television, Intuitive Content works with clients on branded entertainment and advertisements, including a partnership with Renaissance Hotels to create The Navigator’s Table and with Caribou Coffee to film Behind the ‘Bou. In 2021, they partnered with Cointreau and the Independent Restaurant Coalition to create a Super Bowl ad featuring restaurant workers affected by Covid 19 shutdowns. The ad was awarded a silver Telly. Their digital work includes Andrew in the Kitchen, a companion series to Bizarre Foods that was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2018, Bravo TV’s Beats + Bites with the Potash Twins, and instructional cooking classes for Food Network Kitchen and workshops for the Magnolia Network app.
Innovative Culinary Concepts and Partnerships
In 2015, Andrew founded Passport Hospitality, a restaurant and food retail development company that provides consulting services and creates unique culinary concepts inspired by his travels. Licensed at Target Field in Minneapolis, Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen is a quick service concept serving globally-inspired takes on familiar favorites. His first brick-and-mortar restaurant, Lucky Cricket, opened in 2018 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
Passport Hospitality has partnered with Robert Montwaid and Gansevoort Construction to develop experiential food halls and markets in Atlanta’s recently opened Chattahoochee Food Works and in the historic Dayton’s building in downtown Minneapolis, projected to open in 2022. Andrew has also collaborated with Minneapolis chef Gavin Kaysen to create KZ ProVisioning, a unique catering company for professional sports franchises. KZ ProVisioning works with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and the NBA’s Timberwolves to provide healthy meals to the team’s players, families, coaches and locker room staff.
Delicious Life
In 2020, Andrew was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host. He has won James Beard awards for "TV Food Personality" (2010), “TV Program on Location” (2012), and “Outstanding Personality/Host” (2013 and 2017). In 2021, the annual Taste Awards created a new special achievement award, The Andrew Zimmern Discovery Award, that honors his mission to discover new cultures and flavors. Andrew was one of the inaugural honorees. 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 contestant on Iron Chef, and as a guest judge on episodes of Chopped, Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef and Top Chef. In 2016, he co-starred as a mentor for Season 2 of Food Network’s All-Star Academy.
Andrew hosted the three part 2019 Conversations at Copia in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America as a way to publicize, educate and amplify the hard conversations around social justice and food. He is an entrepreneur-in-residence at The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College. Through the James Beard Foundation and the Culinary Institute of America he funds Andrew Zimmern’s Second Chances Scholarships, which offer students faced with extreme challenges an opportunity to follow a culinary path. Andrew sits on the board of directors of Services for the UnderServed, Project Explorer/EXPLR, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and Soigne Hospitality. He serves on City Harvest’s Food Council, is the International Rescue Committee’s Voice for Nutrition and was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme in 2021. He is a founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, fighting to save restaurants affected by Covid-19. Other charities Andrew works with include Lovin’ Spoonfuls, ONE, Food Policy Action Committee, No Kid Hungry and Giving Kitchen. In his rare downtime, Andrew relaxes in Minneapolis, spending time with family and his dog Luca the Lagotto.
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