Early Life

Andrew Zimmern was born in 1961 which means he is 54 years of age. He is not from a rich family background and he faced lot of struggles in his childhood. After graduating from Vassar College, he started working as a chef in New York’s restaurants. During this time, he became a drug and alcohol addict and his life ruined. He spent one year homeless and even stolen purses to meet his needs. One of his close friends joined him in the Hazelden Treatment to overcome addiction and this is said to be the turning point of his career. He doesn’t reveal much about his personal life and his wife also supports him as she doesn’t want to risk her privacy because of her husband’s celebrity status. Andrew Zimmern married Rishia Hass in 2002 and they are leading a happy life.

Early Career

From his childhood days, he wanted to become a chef and after completing his graduation, he started trails to become a chef. New food items prepared by him received well by customers and he helped many people in opening new restaurants. After becoming popular as a chef, he wanted to do more and decided to make dedicated food shows to reach more number of audiences.

TV Journey

He also has doubts in his mind whether the dedicated food program will become successful or not. The first episode, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern was telecasted in 2006 and it became an instant hit. This success gave him a new boost and this show continued for 15 seasons. For this show, he visited 14 states in the USA, 32 countries and studied food habits of more than 150 cultures. Because of his successful programs, he received several awards and the list includes two CableFax awards, two James Beard Awards and he also received several awards for his online video series.

Popularity

He is one of the few culinary experts who enjoys immense fan following all over the United States. More than 833K members are following his official twitter account and more than 445K people liked his profile on Facebook. He is very active on social media platforms and he regularly shares tips to cook new foods, tips to get restaurant like taste at home, garnishing the food items, tips to add extra taste to favorite foods etc. and occasionally uploads complex food item preparation videos. He owns a dedicated website and those who want to try the bizarre dishes at home must visit this website.

He is a kind hearted person and still works as a volunteer in Hazelden Treatment center. As he came from a not so rich background, he knows the value of money and spends his hard earned money wisely. As a food critic and food columnist, he earns so much but he never revealed his net worth.