Photo by Eric Wolfinger
Andrew Zimmern arrived in the Twin Cities nearly 35 years ago, at a moment when Minnesota’s culinary reputation was still largely local. The state had great ingredients, hardworking farmers, and deep food traditions—but little national recognition. Zimmern saw potential long before the rest of the country caught on.
“When I first came here, there were only a handful of restaurants doing things really well,” he recalls. “We had incredible food culture, but not what anyone would have called a national food scene.” Today, that has changed entirely. Minnesota restaurants routinely earn national acclaim, and Zimmern isn’t surprised. He predicted the shift more than a decade ago, pointing to the region’s long-standing relationship with local producers, preservation, and scratch cooking—practices that were later rebranded elsewhere as “farm to table.”
Photo by Eric Wolfinger
Long before it was trendy, Zimmern was sourcing poultry directly from Minnesota farmers, collaborating with producers on flavor and quality. “That’s why our dishes tasted different,” he says. “Because the food started differently.” What Minnesota had, he argues, was breadth—an ability to eat extraordinarily well across cuisines and neighborhoods—if not always the depth of coastal food cities. That breadth has only expanded as immigration, travel, and global influence reshaped the Twin Cities.
Zimmern credits much of the region’s evolution to chefs who invested deeply in community and mentorship, creating ripple effects still felt today. He’s equally candid about where Minnesota can continue to grow, particularly in better elevating immigrant food cultures that already thrive here. “We don’t need to reinvent these cuisines,” he says. “We need to respect them, support them, and let people find them.”
Though Zimmern’s career has taken him across the globe—as a television host, producer, author, and food advocate—his ties to Minnesota remain strong. And now, as he promotes his newest release, “The Blue Food Cookbook,” that connection feels especially relevant.
Co-authored with seafood expert Barton Seaver, the book is part cookbook, part manifesto. With 145 recipes and extensive guidance, it aims to demystify seafood for home cooks—challenging myths about cost, sourcing, freshness, and sustainability. “Seafood is guilty before proven innocent,” Zimmern says. “And it shouldn’t be.” He believes blue foods—fish, shellfish, seaweed, and freshwater species—are among the most environmentally responsible and nutritionally powerful proteins available.
At a time when food systems seem increasingly strained, Zimmern is energized by solution-driven work. From producing the PBS series “Hope in the Water” to supporting aquaculture and global food equity initiatives, he’s focused less on spotlighting problems and more on amplifying the people fixing them.
As for where he eats when he’s home? Zimmern laughs. Sometimes, it’s his couch. But when he goes out, Spoon and Stable remains his go-to—proof that Minnesota’s food story, much like Zimmern’s own, continues to evolve while staying rooted in what matters most.
