Chef Andrew Zimmern Explains Why He Spends So Much Time In The South In His New Show And Why He Feels So Drawn To The Region

Andrew Zimmern is back with a brand recent show that both teaches us recent things and takes us on an adventure in every episode. In Field to Fire, (airing Monday nights on Outdoor Channel and streaming on Tastemade) Zimmern takes viewers on a journey into the field to source his favorite wild game, fish, and birds and then to teach us all several ways to prepare it over an open fire. 

Each episode is dedicated to one location and the affluent products that are native to that land. He travels to different locations around the country, meets with an expert on the specific animal he’s interested in, and viewers tag along for the hunt or the fishing trip. 

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We aren’t talking about your basic protein options either. Zimmern wants to introduce his audience to animals they may not know about or about which they know very little. Throughout the season he tackles animals like sheepshead fish, partridge, and nilgai. More than half of the episodes of this first season take place in the South, Texas and South Carolina to be exact. 

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Zimmern told Southern Living that there were a few reasons for this. The New York born chef who now calls Minnesota home said that for one, the South shares the same values he finds in Minnesota. He said that the people in our neck of the woods place worth in being outdoors, in talking about our history, and our food. 

“They understand better than anyone, I’m just talking about the whole southeastern United States, how to pause, what a communal meal is about. In the southeastern United States people understand the value of talking on someone’s porch. Even if it’s metaphorically speaking.” 

And for the purposes of this show, Zimmern said, “there are more places in the South than anywhere in the United States where people still have the opportunity to either hunt or fish at night for their food the next day or hunt or fish during the day for their meal later that night.”

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But there is another reason the veteran TV host finds himself in the South so often. “I feel really connected down there,” he told us. 

When Zimmern’s family first arrived in America in the early 19th century, he said, “They did not go through Ellis Island, NY. They, as best we know, went through the port of Charleston and immediately went to Atlanta where they were meat cutters up until right after the Civil War. I know it sounds goofy but whenever I’m down in the South I kinda feel a little bit like it’s my home turf. There is something that connects me to that part of the world because of where my family’s roots are.”