A familiar face at the Food & Wine Classic, Andrew Zimmern returns to Aspen as one of the event\u2019s marquee culinary personalities \u2014 a true celeb chef fans have grown to know.<\/p>\n
The four-time James Beard Award winner and Emmy-Award winning celebrity chef is a global food advocate and television personality. Best known for \u201cBizarre Foods,\u201d he has traveled the world highlighting unique eats. Ultimately, his career reflects his longtime dedication to culinary storytelling, and demonstrating how food can change the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love teaching. I love the Aspen Classic. I\u2019ve been going for over the course of 30 years,\u201d Zimmern said. \u201cI\u2019m slowly, but surely, getting to be the senior player on the circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n
For 2026, Zimmern is turning his attention to fish and the role seafood consumption could play in reshaping global food patterns. Throughout the weekend, Zimmern will share those insights during multiple culinary demonstrations.<\/p>\n
He starts with a cooking demonstration, \u201cAmerican Classics: Iconic Dishes from Restaurants in that Defined an Era\u201d from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 20 at St. Regis 1, with a tasting of the dishes that inspired Zimmern throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing one on lost foods that have fallen out of favor or previously existed somewhere else that you now can\u2019t get \u2014 classics that I think are really important. I\u2019m doing it with seafood,\u201d Zimmern said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He does a real Oysters Rockefeller and a Lobster Thermidor emulsified with egg yolks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cClassics are coming back in style, and I think in some restaurants it\u2019s going to be more popular over the next couple of years. I\u2019m excited about that because classics are classics for a reason. It\u2019s great to see new chefs reinterpret them. I\u2019m using original recipes in both cases from over 100 years ago,\u201d Zimmern said.<\/p>\n
He will also be leading the cooking demonstration: \u201cHope in the Water: Seafood for a Sustainable\u201d from 10 to 11 a.m. June 21 at St. Regis Tent 1. The seminar focuses on globally-inspired seafood dishes from The Blue Food Cookbook that celebrates sustainability and the future of ocean-friendly fishing.<\/p>\n
Zimmern released \u201cThe Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future\u201d in October 2025 \u2014 with his social media referring to it as \u201cthe ultimate seafood Bible for home cooks.\u201d It features 145 recipes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI co-authored the book with Barton Seaver, in collaboration with Fed by Blue. It was one of the great projects of my career,\u201d Zimmern said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are an additional 125 pages in front of the recipes, which Zimmern hopes will demystify and empower consumers to make better choices. It looks at topics like what sustainability means and the differences between farmed and wild, and fresh or frozen, options.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we have empowered the consumer to buy and cook more seafood,\u201d Zimmern said. \u201cIf we ate one or two more meals a week from the blue world, we would drastically do better things for our planet and its health, and for our own health.\u201d<\/p>\n
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When Zimmern returns to Colorado, he loves being outdoors, flying fishing, fishing for trout and being on the water. At the 2026 Food & Wine weekend, he sees many people he knows.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love seeing friends that I don\u2019t have a chance to see in other places. I love spending time with my Food and Wine family. It\u2019s so great. It feels like coming home,\u201d Zimmern said, who has served as a contributing editor and frequent contributor of Food & Wine magazine over many years.<\/p>\n
He is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and a founding member of the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture. <\/a>