Andrew Zimmern Culinary Supernova

The food world has many stars - namely chefs who became celebrities or became their own brands. Then there is Andrew Zimmern - the star of The Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods". He is a rock star , garnering fans as he goes on some wild foodie road trips. Yet he's as approachable as the guy next door.

Kin Severson,a regular contributor to The New York Times Food section interviewed along with followed this supernova of a true foodie and chef. For those who are not  familiar with him, Chef Zimmern has an interesting hour long food show "Bizarre Foods" on The Travel Channel. He is an affable guy, think of your neighbor or office buddy trotting around the world and eating the strangest and ickiest morsels. His everyman demeanor has made him beyond popular.He shouldn't be, according to Ms. Severson.He has tee shirts that say "Food woody "along with making a big deal about eating coconut grubs and raw pig testicles.! Social media has shredded him  along with getting battered and bruised with low ratings. Yet he persists. He is a confessor and a guide, according to his friend,Jordana Rothman, the restaurant editor at Food and Wine Magazine.Chef Zimmern has a measure of grace and honesty, apparent in his reporting that many don't have. He is a people's favorite, still covering the Minnesota state fair like the local reporter he once was.He's also opening a chain of Chinese restaurants Lucky Cricket, sort of like PF Chang's with restaurant scion, Michael McDermott whose father created Fuddruckers and Chi-Chi's

You would think he came from a Midwestern family of cooks, who shared recipes dishes but that's furthest from the truth. He is a New Yorker, educated at the tony Dalton School. His father was an ex-Navy man who traveled the world , eventually settling down to be an adman on Madison Ave. His mother struggled with the after effects of brain damage , the result from a botched surgery to remove an appendix scar. She slipped into a coma when he was away at camp and when he returned his father did not want to talk about her. Chef Zimmern started to drink heavily, despite his young age. He also became a drug dealer. Between arrests he wound up with alcohol poisoning.He took summer jobs cooking and discovered he was good at it. He worked in European restaurant kitchens during his college breaks. By the late Eighties he was working with such culinary luminaries as Anne Rosenzweig and Thomas Keller, founder of the famed French Laundry, Yet drugs and alcohol still fuled his life. Luckily he called a childhood friend who got him into a rehab center. It worked and he turned himself around. He now also lectures to inmates at San Quentin Prison, giving them hope and promise. He is the everyman who has hit bottom and rose up , helping others along the way.

There's a reason that Andrew Zimmern is the supernova he is. He is relatable in an industry where celebrity foodies and chefs aren't/ He is the everyman who loves strange foods and earthy conversations.