Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern says the next major health revolution in America won’t be found in fad diets or supplements—it will be found in the seafood aisle. In an interview with Fox News, the Bizarre Foods host warned that Americans are neglecting a powerful tool for better health.
Zimmern said seafood is “the healthiest protein in general,” explaining that it benefits everything from digestion to brain health. He called it “extremely beneficial” and pointed out that it’s typically low in fat, with the fats it does contain being “very, very healthy ones.”
His new Blue Food Cookbook, co-authored with chef Barton Seaver, argues that simply eating more seafood could transform public health while also benefiting the economy and the environment. Zimmern said, “I’d love it if people ate one more meal from the water every single week. Just one.”
Zimmern, who has built a career traveling the globe eating everything from tarantulas in Cambodia to fermented shark in Iceland, now says America’s future lies in embracing its own seafood supply. “We export 75% of what American fisheries bring in,” he said. “That number’s topsy-turvy. We should be keeping more of that seafood here at home.”
He believes that increasing demand would lower prices, make seafood more accessible and ultimately make Americans healthier. One reason it hasn’t happened yet, he says, is because of the illusion of cheap meat. “We have been almost hypnotized, in a way, to assume that a steak… should cost $8 or $9,” Zimmern said. “That is no longer the case,” pointing to rising beef prices and the reality that many families can’t afford it anymore.
Zimmern made clear that he still enjoys red meat, saying, “I love red meat. I’m eating less and less of it as every year goes by, but I love it.” However, he believes seafood must play a bigger role in the American diet for long-term health and sustainability.
He also pushed back on the idea of “garbage fish,” calling it a misconception rooted in snobbery. The real question, he said, shouldn’t be whether a fish is wild or farmed, but “Where was it caught, and is it sustainable and regenerative?”
One of his favorite options? Tilapia. It’s mild, affordable and versatile, and Zimmern says it’s a staple in his home. “If I made tilapia with lemon and capers… I serve it to company and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, what is this fish?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s tilapia.’”