What's Eating America

Renowned chef Andrew Zimmern is globally recognized for his culinary escapades, traversing the world to sample exotic dishes and share them with his audience. However, in 2020, Zimmern took on a different challenge, bringing his considerable experience and understanding of the food industry to the compelling MSNBC docuseries titled What's Eating America. Here, he places the American food industry under a critical lens, using food as the medium to explore some of the most pressing and pivotal issues besieging the country.

What's Eating America is not a cooking show. Instead, it's an in-depth exploration of the intersection between food, politics, and society, in which food serves as a gateway to the nation's heart. In each episode, Zimmern embarks on culinary journeys throughout various regions of the U.S, uncovering diverse food cultures and their social, economic, and political underpinnings. But it's not just about food; it's about digging into greater issues like immigration, climate change, addiction, voting rights, and health care – all topical issues with wide-ranging impact on what ends up on America's dinner tables.

Through engaging interviews and thought-provoking narration, Andrew Zimmern seeks to understand and highlight the entwined relationship between these key issues and the nation’s food supply. With every episode, the audience is invited to see how these issues ultimately shape every level of the food system, from farm to fork, and in turn, how the food industry can also influence them.

The first episode kicks off with the hot-button issue of immigration. Zimmern speaks to farmers, cooks, and others working in the food industry who share their stories about dependence on immigrant labor and the detrimental implications of stringent immigration policies on the US food system. The intention is not to vilify political stances; instead, the show seeks to illustrate the genuine human impact on both sides of the issue–those immigrating and those benefiting from and dependent on their work.

In subsequent episodes, the program tackles climate change, focusing on its severe effects on American agriculture, and especially its devastating impacts on farmers. The show delves into addiction by highlighting the restaurant industry's largely overlooked struggle with substance abuse. The health crisis of skyrocketing medical costs and inadequate healthcare coverage is illustrated through the lives of farmers and chefs. The exploration of voting rights and food looked at how these two seemingly disconnected topics actually share deep-rooted connections, significantly impacting marginalized communities' access to nutritious, affordable food.

What's Eating America attempts to open a new discourse around the serious issues that America faces. It prides itself on sharing real stories about real people; there are no actors, no rehearsed lines, just honest dialogues with the people who work tirelessly to bring food to American tables, which brings an authentic vibration to the show that resonates even after an episode has ended.

Andrew Zimmern serves as the show’s compelling guide. His empathy, curiosity, and charisma shine through in his conversations, drawing out the human element in every story he seeks to tell. His ability to relate to the interviewees and generate a rapport with them lends a significant depth to the program, enabling viewers to comprehend the complexity of these systemic American issues holistically.

What's Eating America is a brave endeavor. It dares to dive into divisive topics, provoking thoughtful discussions about what is wrong and what could be right about America's food system. It's an enlightening, hard-hitting, and crucial snapshot of America's current socioeconomic landscape as told through the lens of the food we eat and the challenges faced by those who supply it.

Be it the farmers battling climate change and rising costs, the marginalized communities fighting systemic food injustices, or the contributions and fears of immigrant workers, What’s Eating America reveals the multitude of battles waged nationwide within the food industry. It's an important watch for anyone interested in understanding the tangled webs of history, policy, economy, and culture that dictate what eats America and what America eats.