Buzz

Chef Andrew Zimmern discusses why film and food are a winning combination—on and off the big screen.

While growing up in New York City, Andrew Zimmern discovered a new passion in the early 1970s—and it had little to do with food. “I was obsessed with The Godfather and The Godfather II [films],” he says. “I’ve watched them endlessly every year, usually during the space between Christmas and New Year. There’s always a day where it’s dedicated to watching the two of them back-to-back.”

Here’s where Zimmern, an Emmy Award winner and four-time James Beard Foundation Award-winning TV personality, takes movie watching to the next satisfying level. “I do a lot of entertaining based around movies because I like screening movies in my house and building a dinner around them. The Godfather dinner is an annual event,” the Orono resident says.

Between viewing the two films, “I lay out a big meal with all kinds of Italian goodies,” Zimmern says. “It’s my own version of Feast of the Seven Fishes, but I call it Sleeps with the Seven Fishes …”