- 56 minutes ago
Interview with Andrew Zimmern about about the wild moment that helped Bizarre Foods break through, the surprise call from Jay Leno’s team, and how Andrew Zimmern built a global brand
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00:00It took me years to get a meeting at Travel Channel, and I finally got one,
00:04six, seven, eight people and me. And they said, okay, what do you got? I think the working title
00:10that I had for it was something really awful, like The Wandering Spoon. But we can't hear that.
00:15He said, that show is 80% education, 20% entertainment. This is television,
00:21commercial television. We're the entertainment business.
00:30Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur. I'm your host, Sean Walchef.
00:35This is a Cali BBQ Media production. In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator
00:41economy, we learn through lessons and stories. As you guys know, we started this show back in 2022.
00:48I have barbecue restaurants in San Diego. We are still open, 18 years in business,
00:53but we built a media company, a storytelling company, primarily to talk to the greatest
00:58storytellers on earth. The restauranteurs, the hospitality professionals, the creators that
01:03were telling the stories about food. There was someone that I put on my big list, and he is a
01:08guest today. His name is Andrew Zimmern. He is a chef. He is an Emmy and James Beard award-winning
01:15TV host. He has been in restaurants. He writes books. But more importantly, he tells stories about
01:22humans, about food, about travel, about life experience. And I am so honored, Andrew, to have
01:29you on the show. Welcome.
01:30Oh, thank you. It's great to be here.
01:33So, we're going to start with my favorite random question, which is, where in the world
01:37is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:42Oh, my gosh. Stadium, stage, or venue? Not one of each.
01:49Um, wow. That's, that's really difficult. Um, I, I found that, you know, going around the
02:02world and recording, you know, making TV, uh, telling stories, um, we didn't call it making
02:10content at the time, but that's, I guess, what we were doing. Um, you know, come eight o'clock,
02:15I would, the crew is off having beers, whatever, uh, hanging out. I would go to see live music
02:25and live sports. Uh, that's, that's my thing. So, um, I've been to some, my immediate thought
02:33was, you know, some places overseas. Um, you know, I've spent a lot of time in, in Bangkok
02:41and Lumpini Stadium for, you know, Thai boxing is about as electric a place as you could possibly
02:50imagine outside the stadium because they broadcast from inside, outside for a lot of people that
02:59can't afford to be inside and watch, uh, you could hear it on speakers. And so there's food
03:04vendors, arguably the best street food in, in Bangkok is on fight night outside Lumpini Stadium.
03:12Uh, inside it's just, I mean, it's, it's wild. It's wild. Um, I've seen, you know, baseball games
03:23in Cuba, Nicaragua. And, you know, I saw the stones, uh, the Alexander plots in St. Petersburg.
03:33Wow. So, but I'm a New York city guy. And while, you know, the great clubs of my youth or
03:46I'm old,
03:47the great clubs of my youth are gone. Um, there's still Madison square garden. And I'm just going to
03:53say, despite how much I love the beacon theater, I was just there last week to see Tedeschi trucks.
04:00Um, I, I'm just going to go with the garden. I just see, I just assume, see a game, a
04:07concert,
04:08an event, a gathering at Madison square garden than just about any other, right? I mean the history.
04:14So let's just go with that one. Okay. Otherwise we'll be here all fucking day.
04:18We're going to take your answer of Madison square garden as the greatest stadium, uh, for Andrew.
04:25However, because we're storytellers and because I am so interested in your perspective of telling
04:33stories about food all over the globe, we're going to go to Bangkok. So we're going to pretend
04:37that we are in Bangkok at the kickboxing stadium. You're going to fill it with storytellers,
04:45entrepreneurs, and hospitality professionals. And I'm going to give you the mic and I'm going to ask
04:51you, Andrew, can you please tell me the story about shooting a promo with Anthony Bourdain right when
04:59your bizarre food came out, you were doing a promo and you had a talk with Anthony about the integrity
05:06of TV. And I will let you take it from there and tell me what you've learned from that moment
05:12into
05:12what has now become a YouTube world, Tik TOK world, sub stack world podcast world. So let's talk about
05:19the integrity of TV in that moment. Well, he, we, he said several things to me, uh, but, uh, two
05:28of
05:28which, uh, I've discussed publicly cause they're the, they're the most interesting. Uh, the rest of it
05:36was just random, uh, bullshit. And we were, you know, it was, you know, we're both sort of engaged in
05:41a
05:41little bit of a pissing contest at the time. Uh, we were acquaintances then we weren't friends. Um,
05:48but the, the occasion was, uh, uh, well, travel channel bought Tony's first show was for food
05:58network. Uh, most people don't remember that. Um, and he made a cook's tour with a production company
06:06that would become 0.0, uh, for a season. It aired on food network. It was, uh, a dismal failure
06:16travel channel, quote unquote, bought the show from their sister network. Um, and, uh, aired it on
06:26travel channel while to see how it would do while at the same time, Tony was shooting season one of,
06:34uh, no reservations. I was about to head out and shoot season one of bizarre foods.
06:44And they knew that they were going to schedule them on the same night. They didn't know if they
06:50were going to move Tony to a new night and do it on a Tuesday and put other shows up
06:56on Monday that
06:57had already been on travel channel for, uh, a couple of years, things like world's best bathrooms and
07:03world's best beaches that were unhosted shows. Uh, they made the right decision. They kept Tony
07:08on Monday and they put my show before his, uh, which was the reason, uh, when the director said
07:20we were supposed to walk down the promenade, uh, underneath the Brooklyn bridge and the director
07:28went action and we're supposed to walk and not talk, which both of us were talking. So it's just
07:35a bunch of lips flapping. It took us about a hundred takes to just get us to walk and not
07:41talk. But
07:42literally as he, the director said action, uh, a friend of mine named Tracy was actually directing
07:49that shoot. Uh, and Tracy says action. And we take a step and Tony turns the side and whispers in
07:57my
07:57ear. I hope you make it for more than a fucking season. That was the first thing that he said
08:05to
08:05me. Thanks for the confidence. Then the, as the, as the day was wearing on, we're getting to scripted
08:11parts. There were, they were trying to wait for crowd control cause they, they wanted some people,
08:17but not a lot. And, uh, you know, there's times where we're sort of holding in our ready position.
08:24And so we're on our first mark and there's someone standing next to us, a PA with the walkie talkie.
08:33And, uh, the PA says to us, it's just going to be a couple of minutes. They got to straighten
08:37out
08:38something with one of the cameras. So we just kind of relaxed and sort of stood and faced each other.
08:45And we were conversing and I said something to him about, uh, so excited that, you know, we had
08:55this opportunity together. We're going to make this great television. And that, you know, I, I believe
09:01that, you know, we had a lot of integrity and I, I made what I thought was a joke, which
09:06was that
09:07between the two of us, we had enough integrity for one normal human being. And, uh, he looked at me
09:13without skipping a beat. And he said, um, the minute you sign a contract to make television,
09:19you've lost every ounce of integrity you've ever earned in life.
09:25And I just sort of looked with at him and that's when the PA said, they're ready for you. And,
09:32uh, I,
09:33I can't even respond to regular action. And we're supposed to walk down the promenade. And this time
09:39he was saying, Hey, Monday nights on travel channel, I'm going to say bizarre foods and no reservations
09:45back to back. And then he's supposed to say something. And we just got caught up in the whole,
09:49but in the meanwhile, my whole mind is, uh, you know, swirling with the naivete of someone who
09:57thought that, uh, there was some integrity to be, uh, salvaged from being in television. Uh,
10:05like so many things in life, uh, I'm extremely proud of the work that I've done in television.
10:11I think a lot of it is important. Um, I am really proud of the way I've showed up and
10:17continue to show
10:18up making content of all types, television and otherwise. Uh, but Tony was right, especially
10:26back then, um, because there's more competition for eyeballs across multiple platforms and,
10:32and different types of media. Um, I think you can have a little bit more integrity these days and
10:39still have a, uh, a career, um, back then less so, uh, he was more right than wrong. And, uh,
10:51it wound up,
10:52uh, you know, being something that it was, it was great for him, but, you know, trying to maintain
11:01some integrity was the reason he exited travel channel and, and moved to CNN. And, uh, and that
11:09was a great move for him and great for the fans. Did you know that toast powers over 140,000
11:16restaurants across the United States, Canada, and UK? It's an incredible company. I'm on the toast
11:22customer advisory board. They are proud sponsors of this show restaurant influencers. We couldn't do
11:27it without their support. They power our barbecue restaurants in San Diego. If you have questions
11:32about toast, if you're thinking about bringing toast on to be your primary technology partner at
11:38your restaurants, please reach out to me. I'm happy to get a local toast representative to take care of
11:43you. You can reach me at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram. Once again, thank you to toast for
11:49believing in the power of technology, the power of storytelling, the power of hospitality back to the
11:54show. Can you share about the TV executive that told you that 80% brains and 20% entertainment
12:02wasn't going to work and that you needed to flip the model? Yeah. I, I went to, it took me
12:10years to
12:11get a meeting, uh, at travel channel and I finally got one and I flew to Bethesda. There was the
12:18discovery
12:19headquarters was in Bethesda with the, you know, discovery logo across the top of it.
12:24And, uh, these were the, the highfalutin days of televisions, you know, just lots of money and
12:31budgets and advertisers and, uh, none of the stuff that exists today. And, uh, I walked in there and I
12:40was in the, the top floor of the building in the big, uh, uh, space where they housed, um, uh,
12:48all the
12:48C-suite offices and Pat Young was at the end of the table, the general manager of travel channel,
12:54um, and, uh, one of the truly great human beings in television and, uh, his whole team, uh, six,
13:02seven, eight people and me. And they said, okay, what do you got? And I, I pitched them about my,
13:10uh, my show idea, which was telling the stories of culture through food in far flung corners of the,
13:20uh, of the globe. And I, I think the working title that I had for it was something really awful,
13:27like the wandering spoon. And Pat just held up his hand and, uh, said to me, you know, the show
13:38you're
13:38describing Andrew is really great. Uh, and, uh, and we like it, but we can't hear that. He said that
13:48show was 80%, you know, education, 20% entertainment. This is television, commercial television. We're
13:56the entertainment business. He said, you can go sell that to PBS. They'll take it in 30 seconds
14:03and they'll love you and you will spend the rest of your life raising money. And, uh, and you're
14:10going to have to do it just about every year with them. Uh, and, um, he said, but my gut
14:19tells me
14:19you're going to have a really great year. You'll win an award or two, and then you're going to be
14:23right back at square one where you started. And, uh, he says, cause I don't think you're going to like
14:28public television. Um, I've come to love public television. Some of my best, best production
14:36work, uh, not screen work has been at public television, including the sooner premiere season
14:42two of hope in the water, our PBS doc series. Um, but, uh, he said, how about this? He said,
14:52come back tomorrow, same time. We'll get together for 15 minutes and you give us something that's
14:5980% entertainment, 20% education, and I'll put it on the air and I'll give you a television career
15:06of over 10 years. And you're going to get to change the hearts and minds of millions, if not tens
15:14of
15:15millions of millions of people. And I said, uh, okay. And I went back to my hotel room and I
15:23went
15:23to sleep and, uh, woke up the next day, had lunch and, uh, went back to the, the conference room.
15:32And it was awful. I didn't have a single idea in my head, nothing, zero zilch. Um, and, uh, luckily
15:43for
15:44me, the first thing they did was, uh, they turned out the lights and they lowered this, uh, map of
15:51the
15:51world. It was big, like 18 feet long by like eight feet high. Uh, and they handed me a laser
15:58pointer
15:59and they said, uh, you know, take us through your new idea. And for whatever reason in my head,
16:07I just remembered by Connie Mayer, my English teacher from grade school and high school said to me,
16:16when you're writing an essay, if you really want to, you really want to impress someone, tell them
16:22what, you know, then tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them what you told them.
16:26And I was like, I just heard Connie's voice in my head. And I, I had a chance before she
16:33died to
16:34actually tell her this. Uh, and, uh, and I just, I just told the audience of eight, nine executives
16:42and Pat what I knew. And I started in Paris and I said, you know, Paris, you know, city of,
16:48you know,
16:48three-star Michelin restaurants, et cetera. But, you know, also the city where they eat bourgogneau,
16:54these tiny little periwinkle snails that you steam and then pick out with a long silver needle in the
17:00sleepy, dangerous bars around Lael. Uh, and then we go to, you know, uh, Germany where, you know,
17:08national law won't tell you what they grind up and put inside of the, uh, of the hot dogs, but
17:14just,
17:15you know, think of the glories of head cheese. And I just went, I just went around the world and
17:21talking about foods that, you know, my father had turned me onto when I was younger. And, uh,
17:30I, it wasn't until I was about three or four places and foods in that I realized that everyone
17:37was sort of sitting on the edge of their seat. And in my head, I very quickly realized, oh my
17:42gosh,
17:43I, for whatever reason, and it was complete accident. I was just talking about foods from the
17:49fringe that other people weren't talking about. And I just said the words, I said, what's more
17:54boring in travel food television than a boneless, skinless chicken breast. I want to talk about
17:59the foods that are popular in countries that outside of the country, no one may have heard of,
18:07let alone want to eat. And I think we can do a really great job entertaining people and also
18:15educating them at the same time. And when I left there, they literally clapped me on the back and
18:20said, great, go find a production company to make it and give us a call. And essentially that was it.
18:27What a fun, I was very lucky.
18:30Ah, I don't know about luck. Let's, let's go to the Jay Leno moment.
18:36Episode, episode three of bizarre foods. I'd love for you to share the story of how that episode
18:42actually came to be because as someone that creates content, we understand the value of
18:47pre-production, uh, understanding the story that you're going to tell when you go on site,
18:52but then the magic that happens when you are on site and you let your curiosity wander.
18:58Well, is the, the lane of curiosity wander is great. It's how do you enroll other people in your
19:04crazy idea? True. Right. Uh, so, uh, we shot, uh, 10 episodes of bizarre foods before the first one
19:15aired. Uh, we shot, uh, Spain and Spain one and Morocco one, uh, and then aired them in reverse
19:27order. And then, uh, episode three, well, we came back to the States and then left for South America
19:34to go shoot episode three in Ecuador. Um, we were in Odovalo, which is in the highlands of,
19:43of central Ecuador, a place that had this giant farm market where people would come to exchange and sell
19:52live animals, dead animals, eat, drink, be merry, trade grain futures. I mean, you name it,
19:59everything was for sale. You, you could buy a child or a human body part in the Odovalo market.
20:06And in those days, I mean, when we wrap bizarre foods, uh, or when the, when the network ended the
20:14show, um, I think we were up to 14 or 15 people in our crew in a, and then we
20:21added on four or five
20:22locals wherever we were that first season, it was, uh, Shannon and Mike who were a couple boyfriend,
20:31girlfriend. She was the producer director. He was the sound man, a cam, B cam PA, everything else.
20:41And it was just three of us traveling and a driver. And, uh, Shannon and I would sit in their
20:50room at
20:50night and write the script, uh, and go over show notes for the day we just finished. And for the
20:57day that was about to come and it was real, it was hard, just three of us making that whole
21:02first
21:03season. So it's like, we had already spent a week in the Amazon in Ecuador. So we were beat to
21:12shit.
21:12I mean, it just wears on you eight, 90% humidity, you know, snakes that are 30 feet long spiders
21:21that
21:21are microscopic, both of which can kill you. I mean, you know, just not, not easy. Uh, and difficult to
21:30shoot with just three of you. I mean, just lugging tripods to put stationary cameras on to
21:36shoot a scene extremely hard. And, uh, so about eight, nine days into that trip, we're in Odovallo.
21:46We shoot something in the morning where we are supposed to leave, but we wind up changing our
21:52plans to hang around, to shoot something with a guy who was going to come back in the afternoon and
21:56make this some dish for us. He was a, uh, a farmer and he was going to make something with,
22:03you know,
22:04cow intestines and cheap shit. I don't know, something crazy. And, uh, we're wandering through
22:13the town and the, the, one of the, actually our, our translator who we hired when we left
22:23Amazonia, uh, because there were people in at the lodge we're staying in who could handle
22:29a translation for us, but we hired a translator, uh, to work with us. He was also our fixer for
22:35the
22:35city parts. And he, he was following me as I'm walking. It was really creepy. And, uh, but I'm
22:44glad he did because I turned down a street and it was like stepping back in time, 500 years. And
22:51there
22:51was a sign that said, uh, brew hair. And, uh, I said, what is that? I said, there's no window.
23:00It doesn't seem like a store, but it seems like a retail side. He says, uh, that's a sign for
23:04which
23:05doctor, you know, brew hair, brew hair is which doctor feminine. And I'm like, Oh, I said, what,
23:13what does the witch doctor do? And he, he says, well, basically he performs exorcisms.
23:19And I said, are they expensive? And he said, yes, very, very expensive. I said, how much are
23:24the exorcisms? And he said, they can be as much as $20. And I said, okay. And, uh, I ran
23:33back and
23:33found Mike and Shannon who were like napping under a tree or something. And I woke them up and I'm
23:39just
23:39like, we have to, I have to get an exorcism and we have to shoot it. And Shannon was like,
23:47Oh my
23:48God, that's great. And Mike was like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I mean, cause he had to
23:53carry the gear and go to the truck and get everything out. And it meant he wouldn't get
23:58another break for 12 more hours. And I mean, it was, um, he, he was playing devil's advocate
24:05more than he was drawing a line in the sand, but I managed to convince both of them to do
24:10it with me. And we went with our, uh, our translator back and we negotiated, uh, a $20
24:19exorcism, which was the one with all the frills. I mean, you know, every extra and, uh, we were
24:26in a tiny room with no windows, maybe 10 feet by 10 feet. I just remember cause the camera
24:32had to be backed up all the way. We didn't have lenses with us. We had the lens that came
24:37with the, the, the Sony prosumer camera that we were shooting on. And I just remember Shannon,
24:45they're both, by the way, Shannon and Mike are both very tall. She's like six feet. He's
24:50like six five. And, uh, you know, so Mike is sitting or kneeling on the floor. Shannon
24:58is sometimes in the room, sometimes not because the, the, the first instruction was take off your
25:03clothes. Um, okay. And amongst other things, he spat up on me. I mean, a half gallon of phlegm.
25:12He beat, uh, two dead, uh, Guinea pigs. Well, two Guinea pigs, he beat them against my chest until
25:19they were dead. I mean, he was really swinging the Guinea pigs. Um, he beat me with a giant bush.
25:28I mean, just massive. I mean, it must've been five foot long with a whole bunch of leaves just
25:33hitting me over and over with this thing until I, my whole body broke out in hives. He poured a
25:39bottle of homemade, uh, uh, I guess it was rum, uh, it was homemade hooch and lit me on fire.
25:49All my
25:49hair burned off my body. Um, it was insane, but basically what he was trying to do was pull the
25:56evil spirits from me and transfer them into these other things. So it went into the smoke from the
26:04flame and up into the, the ether. He trapped evil spirits in these dead animals and then would throw
26:12them, burn them and throw them in the river later. We learned, but he really abused the, the ever loving
26:19shit out of me. So flash forward six months, it was a great scene. We left it in the show,
26:25uh,
26:25episode one does decently in the ratings. Episode two does an identical number of the ratings and
26:33you know, the, the secret of television, at least when Nielsen ruled, uh, the world was episode three
26:41was where you put your best show and you really hope to kick ass. Uh, and episode three Ecuador aired
26:48and it was like a 10th of a ratings point below episode two. So it was going in the wrong
26:53direction.
26:53Uh, and, uh, you know, my agent called me and said, well, you know, we'll, we'll get back. They're
27:01probably going to cancel it. They'll, they'll, they'll air the 10 you made, but they, you know,
27:08probably not going to get other, maybe we'll, we'll call them and try to get more work. And we're just
27:11going through all the what ifs was very depressed. And, uh, cause I really thought the first season,
27:18although I felt that I ate too many bugs and weird things, I knew that if I could just
27:27become do everything I could for the audience that I would get renewed for a second season and the,
27:35the, the, the, the, the pendulum would swing in my direction and I could call more of the shots,
27:41eat less bugs, tell more human stories. So it's Wednesday and phone rings at my house,
27:49an actual phone that you picked up and answered, uh, because the iPhone had not been invented yet.
27:56That's right. And, uh, I just remember answering the phone and it was, uh, a male intern saying,
28:04hi, this is Bob from the tonight show with Jay Leno is Andrew Zimmern there. And I was like,
28:10you know, I think I said like, you know, fuck you, Michael, you know, one of my friends with me,
28:17stop fucking the, uh, phone rang again. And it was like, please don't hang up. This is Bob
28:24from the tonight show. I'm an intern. Don't put me through. I'm like, what can I do for you?
28:30And he goes, well, hold please for so-and-so our talent booker. And I'm just like, this is weird.
28:37And, uh, this woman gets on the, on the phone, um, with me and she says, is this Andrew Zimmer?
28:44I said, yes. I said, I, I saw clips my staff put together for me of, uh, your show last
28:51night.
28:52And, uh, that whole thing with the witch doctor and the exorcism, that was real. Right. And I'm like,
28:58what do you mean? Of course it was real. Um, we don't have enough budget for special effects.
29:05We, we don't even have budget for a sound man or a, uh, a second camera operator. And, uh,
29:13she said, I love it. I pitched it to Jay. Can you be out in LA tomorrow night? And I
29:19said,
29:20I can't tomorrow night. Uh, but I can be out there for Friday night. And she said, great,
29:28come on the tonight show. And the next day I left for California and I went out on the,
29:34you know, I did my stuff with Jay and it was hysterical. Jay Leno eats like four. He drinks
29:42orange juice. That's all he drinks. He loves hot dogs and hamburgers. And that's about it. He
29:47doesn't eat vegetables. I mean, he has the diet of a poorly eating three-year-old. And, um,
29:57so all of this stuff was really crazy. He was, his mother was from Scotland. And, uh, in season one,
30:03I had done a thing on haggis. So we showed that clip and I brought some haggis for him to
30:07taste.
30:08And he said, you know, my mother couldn't get me to eat this stuff. And I said, well,
30:11I'm going to, and, you know, I said, I'm not leaving until you do. We had, it was just fun
30:16and funny.
30:17And, uh, one of the guests to my right was horrified at some of the things that I was,
30:23uh, I was eating, um, and had brought for him to taste. And, uh, at the end of the thing,
30:30now I had watched the tonight show my entire life, you know, my next birthday, I'll be 65.
30:36So I was raised on Johnny Carson and then Jay Leno, uh, after him. And so like with comedians,
30:43when your segment ends and Jay's like, Oh my God, that was so much fun. Will you come back and
30:50see
30:50us? I just, that to me, will you come back and see us meant you were coming back. Yeah. And
30:57I've
30:58just never forgotten that moment. And I mean, literally without Jay Leno saying, will you come
31:03back bizarre foods is 10 episodes and done. And, um, I am just, you know, the, the, I know what
31:14you
31:14mean about, you know, disagreeing with my statement before about being lucky. I mean, you do make your
31:19own luck. Um, because I, I, I know if someone else was telling me this story, I would say, look,
31:25you saw the witch doctor sign, you investigated it. You realized it was going to be funnier and
31:31better, real talking moment. Uh, and it wound up impressing the people at tonight show and all that,
31:38but you just do the best you can and, and keep plugging away. Um, but yeah, without,
31:45without that moment in Ecuador, there is no bizarre foods without the tonight show, there is no, uh,
31:51bizarre foods. I ended up going back four or five times at doing the show with Jay. And, uh, we
31:56had
31:56some really hysterical, hysterical moments. Can you share now looking at bizarre foods, like what you
32:03created and what it's become? Oh yeah. I have enough space, uh, for it, um, or enough time has separated,
32:11you know, they, they ended, uh, despite all the bullshit you read on the internet, um,
32:19travel channel, we were making Zimmern list, uh, which was about to win an Emmy, uh, again.
32:26So we didn't know at the time, but I was in Florida making an episode of Zimmern list for travel
32:31channel.
32:32Uh, cause I was up to like three shows for them or something like that. And, uh, the president of
32:38the
32:38network called me and said, Hey, Andrew, uh, we are changing the network to become a ghost and
32:44paranormal network. Uh, we, uh, we're going to abandon food and travel and go ghost and paranormal.
32:52And I said, well, I can't very well be chasing Essie, uh, and seeing if, if, you know, she's edible,
33:00let alone real. And I mean, I thought this guy was fucking with me and nope. Uh, sure enough,
33:07uh, they were for real. They said, yeah, pencils down, come on in. I said, look,
33:12I said, I hate to be a dick. I said, but a couple of us, one of whom is still
33:16here,
33:17uh, help make this network. Uh, you've already paid for this episode that I think was the last
33:23Zimmern episode of the, of the year of the season. I said, we're going to finish this show and deliver
33:29it. And, uh, we will, um, we'll discuss all the rest of this next week when I get home.
33:36And I, you know, the, the next week, uh, I showed up at, uh, at their office and, you know,
33:45sure enough, we're going ghost and paranormal. And, uh, that was the end of all my shows. So I never
33:52got
33:52to know that the last episode of bizarre foods that I made, which was, uh, the underground railroad
34:01episode, uh, was going to be my last. Uh, but I'm extremely proud of the, however, many episodes
34:10of that show gazillion episodes of that show we made, uh, it, uh, I mean, it's certainly,
34:19I think become a legacy, uh, television show, uh, as popular now as it ever was. Uh, and I'm super
34:28proud of it. So my grandfather, I never met my father. I was raised by my Bulgarian grandfather,
34:34and he has always taught me to stay curious, to get involved and to ask for help. Curious people
34:42listen to podcasts, curious people watch shows to learn curious people go to conferences,
34:49go to trade shows. They ask questions of mentors. You actually have to get involved. You have to do
34:54work, but the hardest lesson. And the reason why I talk about it on podcasts and on stages
34:58is asking for help, especially in the hospitality business. I know any business,
35:04help is such a powerful message that you continue to share. Can you share with our audience why
35:10it's so good? Yeah. You know, I never said the words, I mean, and I mean this literally,
35:17this is not a clever, you know, joke. I never said the words, uh, I don't know how to do
35:24blank.
35:24Can you help me? Or the a hundred variations of that, uh, until I was 31 years old. And
35:35I thought I knew everything. I would rather, you know, you know, put pins in my eyeballs than ask
35:43somebody for help. I thought it was a sign of weakness. It's not, it's a sign of strength. Um,
35:49uh, over the last 35 years, I think I've been the most curious, teachable, uh, you know,
35:57son of a bitch on planet earth. Um, because once I started using that phrase and started to actually
36:05talk to people, um, incredible things came to pass in my life and it changed literally. And, um,
36:15for the better, I, I think we have put too much of a premium, uh, on thinking we know everything
36:29when it's impossible for anyone to do that. I think we've conflated the, the importance of the human
36:37ego to our own, uh, downfall. I think that there is something extremely powerful in truly being able
36:47to let go and let others manage something that you honestly felt in your gut was something that
36:54only you could handle. Um, the voice inside everyone's brain that tells them that they got it
37:02all is lying. And the, the, the worst part about it is I think that, you know, I don't think
37:10phones
37:10are the problem. I don't think AI is the problem. I don't think all the things we label as the
37:16problem
37:17is the problem. I think the problem is the conflation of the human ego and the degree to which
37:26we have decided that we are as a species, the be all and end all. And rather than being curious
37:33and staying teachable and asking questions and, uh,
37:40understanding the concept of humility, we in over the last 25 years in human culture have accelerated
37:49what would otherwise be a centuries long philosophical moment in human development.
37:56where we have decided that we are, you know, we, we are God, we are, we are the supreme decider
38:08of everything. And, uh, that is, that is so far from the truth. And I, and I think that that
38:16has
38:16become, uh, sadly me, me, me, me, me isms are, uh, are the big cause the, the, I think stuff
38:26like
38:26you know, like over reliance on this is just a symptom of the problem. Yeah. Couldn't agree
38:34more. You've been an inspiration to me. I've been in a program of recovery since 2012. I own
38:40restaurant. Congratulations. Thank you. I own restaurants. I own bars. Um, I was a heavy
38:45drinker, hall of fame drinker. I know that there are restaurant owners. There are people in the
38:50restaurant industry, especially that listen to the show, watch the show, um, that they might be
38:55struggling. Can you talk to them and let them know a little bit of hope? Uh, yeah, pick up the
39:01phone and call someone right now. Just call one person and tell them the truth. If my experience
39:06is that if you're a real addict or alcoholic, uh, or gambling addict or sex addict, or any of the
39:13other, you know, types of addicts that are out there, a real one, if you were a real addict,
39:21you have not told people the truth for years, you've compartmentalized it. Some people may know
39:26something. Some people may know another. You were hiding the truth. You won't even admit it to yourself.
39:31That, that was my personal experience, but you know, I've been heavily involved in my own recovery
39:39to this day. I mean, I still go to three meetings a week. I still do service work. I still
39:46take other
39:47guys through our literature. I still do the things that kept me happy, joyous, and free because I don't
39:54want to go back to that hell hole that I crawled out of. Um, I was a, an unredeemable human
40:02being,
40:03uh, user of people, taker of things. And, uh, you know, they get really, really bad shape. And, uh,
40:15everything changed for me when I told one person the truth, that was it. I didn't get sober for another
40:22three days, but it, it literally was the last barrier to, you know, my ego being supplanted by,
40:34uh, some rightful thinking, you know, uh, you got a problem, go get it taken care of,
40:45you know, uh, you know, it's a, it's, it's an old recovery saying, but if you broke your arm,
40:50you'd go to the hospital. I mean, the toughest guy in the world just says, Hey, I need to have
40:56my arm set. Uh, then I'm going to go back and finish the fight, but you go to the hospital,
41:00uh, you know, alcoholics and addicts, you know, we, we, we're just arguing that we don't have a
41:08disease, uh, when we know we have, that's the, that's the, the strange mental blank spot. That is
41:16the, the, the, the oddly placed mental health aspect of this disease. That's probably most
41:24prevalent, even in recovery. Uh, those of us who were able to, to make it is that we still have
41:30a
41:31disease that tells us at times we don't have a disease. Um, when I was using, I listened to it
41:36all the time. Uh, now I hear it and I'm like, you know, fuck you, go back in your hole,
41:41but it's still
41:42in there talking to me, which is why I keep doing what I'm doing. So yeah, I would, uh, I
41:48would tell
41:49people this is this don't, don't make this bigger than it has to be one step at a time. Step
41:55one,
41:56call someone, tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you God
42:00and see what happens. That's it. Just see what happens. So powerful before I let you go. Is there
42:07anything exciting? What is the most exciting thing you're working on right here, right now today
42:12that you can check? Oh gosh. Uh, and by the way, we're going to put a link to your sub
42:16stack because
42:16I, you are the, you're my favorite follow on sub stack. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you for
42:22writing. Thank you for all that you pour into that. You and your team. Well done. Thank you. Uh,
42:27you know, I mean, I'm, I'm working on a couple of new books, uh, cookbooks. Uh, I, we,
42:33we just finished shooting the first half of season seven of wild game kitchen. We'll shoot the second
42:40half in may. Um, I got a great trip. You know, if you want to travel with me and hear
42:46these stories
42:46add infinitum, come to Japan. The information's right at the top of our website. We'd love to have
42:51you. Um, I don't know. That's the, you know, the stuff that I'm working on, it's, it's the same shit.
42:57I'm always working on TV books, YouTube, short form social media. I mean, it's, it's all the,
43:05it's all the same stuff. You know, we, we're, we're living in an attention economy and, uh,
43:13like everyone else, I'm competing for people's attention, just like millions of other folks
43:19are. Uh, so I'm still doing all the shit. That's like, look at me, look at me. Uh,
43:23and then with the other 50% of my time, uh, you know, I work, I'm lucky. I get to
43:31work with a lot
43:31of global NGOs. I, I have pilot programs with the United Nations World Food Program with the, uh,
43:39you know, Einstein's International Rescue Committee that he founded in 39 that, uh, you know, uh,
43:50Sir Tony Miliband, uh, uh, David Miliband runs, he was Blair's foreign secretary, um,
43:59uh, nature conservancy. I sit on four or five different boards that, you know, we're all,
44:04you know, SUS giving kitchen places. They're all nonprofits that try to help people. Uh, so it's
44:10what I spent a lot of my time doing, making content, me, me, me, me, me, and doing things to
44:17help people. You, you, you, you, you, and, and I'm hoping between it all, it, it balances each other
44:23out. Well, we absolutely love giving kitchen. We will put a link to giving kitchen, uh, the
44:28hospitality industry. I love the work that you've been doing as a board member for them. Uh, Andrew,
44:33my most important question, and then I'll let you go is this, you, you've been a mentor without
44:38knowing it. Um, I'm grateful for the time. Would you come back again in the future? Oh, of course.
44:44Just, just ask me. I say yes to, you know, it signs it's a scheduling issue and we have to
44:50plan
44:50it months in advance, but I, I love, I love, I mean, look, I'm, I'm a recovering alcoholic and
44:57I'm in television, which means I have a huge ego. I have a huge ego and no, no self-esteem
45:02whatsoever. So, you know, I'll, I'll say yes and come back wherever I am. Sean, I, I hope that's
45:10your daughter. This is my daughter. Mila, can you say hi, Andrew? Hi, nice to meet you, Mila.
45:16She's a, she's a storyteller in training. She comes to me to all our barbecue news segments
45:21here in San Diego. And she's got her own YouTube channel. Yes. I love it. With Colleen. Good for
45:27you, Mila. Don't stop. Don't stop. There you go. Andrew, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you
45:35so much. We will put links to all of the books, all of the things. Uh, I will just make
45:39sure
45:39we get you, um, uploaded and it's been, it's been a truly an honor. Thank you. Thank you.
45:45Appreciate it. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. If you've made it this long,
45:52you are part of the community. You're part of the tribe. We can't do this alone. We started,
45:56no one was listening. Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe.
46:01Please check out our new series called restaurant technology, sub stack. It's a sub stack newsletter.
46:07It's free. It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants. Also go to YouTube
46:12and subscribe to Cali barbecue media, Cali BBQ media on YouTube. We've been putting out a lot
46:18of new original content. Hopefully you guys like that content. If you want to work with us,
46:23go to the show.media. We show up all over the United States, some international countries.
46:28We would love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling. You can reach out
46:32to me anytime at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram. I'm weirdly available. Stay curious, get involved.
46:39Don't be afraid to ask for help. We'll catch you next episode.
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