Andrew Zimmern

I didn't agree with it, but I understood it more.

And

So at the end of the day, whether it's with a family in Lapland crushing crayfish and eating little blueberry pancakes made with reindeer milk or having juice with an internationally known terrorist,

Sharing food is a neutral ground over which we can communicate with each other.

And it has immense value.

Now, I happen to find more immense value when I bring neighbors, friends, and loved ones together to celebrate, to take a respite from how hard the world is.

I enjoy it more when I'm visiting you wherever you live and we connect and you take me out to a restaurant I've never been to before and we laugh and I realize, geez, I've never met this guy.

Look at how much I have in kind.

I thought we were just bald dudes with glasses.

It turns out...

Like we're living the same life, right?

There you go.

This is the beauty.

This is the beauty of our time that's here on planet Earth.

And I think the dining table, metaphorically speaking, is the best place to put aside grievances and share with people.

I did it so often that I proposed to the production company that we shoot a show called Dinner with the Dictator.

Because I thought, you know, you see all these news guys and anchor women and everyone is going in to talk to some international narco terrorist or some evil, you know, autocrat in some faraway country.

And they get the big interview and they ask them all about international geopolitical matters and stuff like that.

And a lot of people, frankly, tune out.

And I'm sitting there talking to this guy about his kid and his office and the pictures.