Quotes from Andrew Zimmern

I can tell everything about a restaurant through their mussels. You have to work so hard to keep them perfect.

Even as a kid, I ventured out to ethnic restaurants all the time.

The jambalaya of the American South owes a lot to the cuisines of the islands and western Africa, and it's my favorite of this type of one-pot cookery.

The biggest thing that I learned is when you're building something - especially a project that requires partners - you have to make sure that there is a lot of overlapping desire and a lot of overlapping alignment with the people that you're doing work with.

In 2012, I launched Andrew Zimmern's Canteen. Inspired by visits to street stalls and markets around the world, Andrew Zimmern's Canteen reflects the intersection of food and travel.

I think we have cultural bias and practice some ethnocentrism when it comes to ethnic food in America.

I'd be very happy serving on a local school board. I just know that I have a responsibility to give back.

Don't eat till you're full, eat till you're tired.

As I famously said before, I don't like to waste meals. I'm no one's food snob.

The summer after college, I got a job as a chef at Conscience Point Inn in Southampton. I spent the summer on the water and cemented my expertise with seafood. I've always gravitated toward places that do seafood.

There's fresh fish, and then there's fresh fish. Samoa is ranked as one of the best places for game fishing in all the world, and runs thick in the waters off the island chain. In fact, it's used as an edible currency in local markets. The day I fished there, we caught loads of yellowfin.

Sardinia has to have some of the best seafood on the planet. I'm a sea urchin freak, and Sardinia's are some of the best I've had.

I don't like being at food festivals and have someone from some weird cable access show that's all about lifestyle get in my face with a microphone and wants to know which party I'm going to later... That just is pointless kind of stuff to me.

People forget that in early 1970s, there were 3 sushi bars in New York City. Three. Three. Think about that. Now, there is sushi in... I've eaten it - there is sushi at gas stations in Middle America.

I think a lot of chefs are afraid of media outlets, and especially web outlets, because they're afraid there's some 'Borat' situation going on.

Having been in the restaurant business, our job in the restaurant business is to be responsible for our customers' happiness. It's the nature of the hospitality business. You need to take care of people. You take care of customers above all others. Customers are your lifeblood.

I have a tremendous platform and responsibility to talk to people about these issues about sustainability and about health and wellness when it comes to food.

In a world that is defined by what separates us, sharing a meal with someone from a different country, showing what we have in common with the people, it's very powerful and important.

I famously tasted shark fin soup many, many years ago before we understood exactly what was going on with the harvesting of sharks. I've consequently come out against it. I make personal choices in my life and stand behind them.

It might seem strange to feast on Guinea pig, but Ecuadorians love to eat cuy. Personally, I think it's a phenomenal alternative to pork or chicken. High in protein, low in fat, cheap and easy to raise. Oh, and cuy tastes great, much like roast pig. You might call it a pet, but I prefer to call it dinner.

Here's the lines I draw: I never say something I don't believe - ever, ever, ever; and I won't endorse a product I don't like and use. When the cameras are off, we are who we are when they're on.

I'm into exploring the fringes of a culture.

As a teenager, I spent my days at the beach and nights cooking in Long Island restaurants.

A well-seasoned and properly cleaned wok will always have micro-pores in the metal that hold some oil or food particulate, etc. - that's a good thing.