Travel kitchen

was late to Georgia. My flight was stuck in Istanbul and we’d had only a small window to shoot in the off season resort city of Batumi, so a last minute substitute was called in. Like John Shaft, he’s a complicated man. Like Wolf Blitzer, he’s got the credentials and experience to tackle any subject. Like Bambi, a Struggling medical student, he WILL pole dance if no other employment options exist. I’m talking, of course, about Zamir. It’s likely and unfortunate that you are probably only dimly aware of Georgia — the country, not the state...

As often happens on Parts Unknown, the show you are going to see Sunday night is not the show we intended to make. I’d been to Cologne, years earlier, for a book fair, and I’d enjoyed myself. The endless torrent of tiny beers, the pig knuckles and schnitzels — my kind of place. Though locals referred to their town as ugly, I found it pretty and cinematic. I knew our old producer, Tracey Gudwin was living in Germany, and looked forward to the opportunity to work with her again. I had every intention...

It was fun while it lasted. Another 8 episodes Dunzo. Or will be Dunzo after sunday's season closer in Buenos Aires. The crack Zero Point Zero Production team and I, however, are deep, deep in post production for our next season...

Samuel Johnson said “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”, but I consider myself a patriot. The fact that the United States of America is the birthplace of the blues, jazz, rock and roll, and Mohammed Ali is argument enough for me that we are a place worthy of pride. Texas, however, was, for most of my life, a foreign land — a place and a culture far from the one I grew up in in New York City and suburban New Jersey. And I will shamefacedly admit that for most of those years, I entertained...

Nashville is changing fast. About a hundred people a day are moving to the city — for reasons which will become obvious when you watch the show we made there. Chefs and restaurateurs in particular are finding the city attractive — there’s a gold rush of talented operators setting up shop, eager to take advantage of relatively reasonable rents, a good economic climate, and a welcoming public. So far, born and bred Nashvillians have greeted the torrent of carpetbaggers from the North with open arms...

The London (and England) show is another example of my crew and I heading out to do one thing and, due to a sudden change in circumstances, finding ourselves doing something else entirely. What we wanted and expected to be a happy, carefree food-centric show became squeezed by the sudden arrival of an elephant in the room. I love London and have many dear friends there. I thought, what a simple thing to do: make a show about the typical, simple pleasures of old school British cookery, revisit some cherished favorites, connect with some old friends...

My friend Eric Ripert (maybe you know him from such previous buddy films as Peru, and Marseille — as well as the upcoming Bad Boys VII: The Revenge) has never been to mainland China. And due, perhaps,...

It’s always great when you can tell a story of a place through the eyes of an individual. It’s even better when that individual is an extraordinarily creative and talented artist with a unique way of looking at the world. How did they get from “there” to “here”? What mysterious forces shaped them? What was it about the place and circumstances of their upbringing that helped push them, gave them the drive and the hunger to be different, to be bold, to insist on carving out their own path? Masayoshi “Masa” Takayama was raised a “country boy” in the rural farming community of Nasushiobara, Japan...

Somebody said “GUN!” and the next thing I know, director Mo Fallon drops his camera, drags me to the floor of a crowded care and covers me with his body. A split second later, assistant cameraman Josh Flannigan piles on. Mo has his back to the potential shooter, shielding me. The danger passed quickly. Two car thieves, struggling with the ignition, had allowed their stolen vehicle to drift into the curb in front of the cafe where we were shooting a scene. Witnesses had tried to drag them out of the car — at which point one of them produced a weapon...

Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble ancient footprints are everywhere. You could almost think that you’re seeing double, On the cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs. Gotta hurry back to my hotel room, Where I got me a date with a pretty little girl from Greece, She promised she’d be there with me, When I paint my masterpiece Bob Dylan You should know right now, if you didn’t know already, that what drives the team behind PARTS UNKNOWN is not to do what we did last week or last month — or ever...