Phil Rosenthal on the people, places and dishes that have shaped his life

Yahoo

24-03-2025

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
I was 17 when I had garlic for the first time. I always equate it to The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy opens the door and the movie is then in colour. My parents were German immigrants, so we ate old-world German-style cuisine. Things like beef stew, chicken schnitzel, potatoes… there was zero spice. Even when we ordered Chinese food, once every three months, it was always the blandest thing on the menu. It wasn't until I left their house that I had food with flavour. My parents were fantastic in every way, except for food. I've spoken to people like Alice Waters, who reinvented the farm-to-table movement [in the US] and she told me her parents were terrible cooks, too! But I'm not a cook, I'm just a fan of food.
I'm exactly like Anthony Bourdain — if he was afraid of everything. That's what I said to sell Somebody Feed Phil. The idea for it came from my love of food and for shows like Anthony Bourdain's. I would watch him and think he's amazing, but I'm never doing that. He's a lot braver than me, and a pioneer. But then I thought, maybe there's a show for people like me, who love the idea of travelling, but even just getting off the couch is stepping out of their comfort zone, let alone riding in dune buggies and having a chest tattoo pounded into your skin by Borneo tribes. Bourdain inspired many people to travel, many of whom are way more adventurous than me. But the show is a different take on the travel genre that Bourdain reinvented. I'm following in his footsteps, but in my orthopaedic shoes.
Every city has a fantastic food scene, especially because every city has immigrants from other places. Some of the best shawarma I've ever had was in Glasgow. Why? Because a man from Syria moved to Glasgow and opened a shop. And a lot of Chinese people will tell you, the dishes they made in China taste way better in Los Angeles because of the produce available here. So now they have their brilliant recipes with great ingredients. The immigration and the intermingling of the cultures, that's what elevates everything.
Where you are, where you're sitting, the temperature, the people you're with, what you're looking at, what you're feeling at the time… literally affects your taste. For example, I bet you've had wine on holiday and thought, this is the best wine I've ever had. You've bought a case of that wine and save it for a special occasion. The special occasion comes, you open that wine, and… it's okay. Maybe the first time you tried it you were falling in love or you were with the person you were going to marry. Everything affects how you perceive everything else.
In Italy, everywhere is beautiful to me. All the food is delicious and everyone is always hugging and kissing you — what's not to like? I was once in a little skiing town in Cortina, and I went into this little chalet and asked, 'What's the speciality here?' They said, 'Pasta with onions.' That doesn't sound like much, I thought, but it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. The onions had been simmering for days until they were sweet and velvety, and mixed in with a touch of cream and herbs. If you have great ingredients, it doesn't need to be fancy.
I ate ants in Tokyo and they tasted just like lemons. I was at a restaurant called Den, and my companion said I should order the salad, but when it came, it had these big black ants on it. I thought, the restaurant has a problem, call the exterminator! I was very nervous, but I was being filmed and the chef was just across the counter. I bit down and it crunched a little. But you know what? It was like someone put a drop of lemon on my tongue. The chef told me that these particular ants, from a particular part of a particular forest in Japan, taste like lemon. I asked, 'Who found this out? Who was the guy who tasted all the ants in the forest and said, 'Mmm, lemon!'?'
Shanghai has a fun food scene I'd love to explore. I've seen it depicted in movies and shows, and it looks so great and romantic — t­his big Chinese city with dishes from all over the world. I've never been to Greece and I can't wait to go to Turkey. But the new season is coming out in June, and I go to some places I've never been, but I can't tell you what they are yet!
I went to a Palestinian woman's restaurant in Dubai and she gave me food that made me cry. The world will tell you that we're not supposed to be friends, right? I'm a Jewish man, this is a Palestinian lady. We bonded instantly. She was so sweet, warm and lovely — it's in the show, you can see it. She made a raw lamb dish with all kinds of herbs and spices, from her mother's recipe. We've stayed in touch ever since, all through the troubles.
To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).