Affordable menus and smaller portions need to be offered by restaurants, celebrity chef insists

Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern of Minnesota believes Americans are being priced out of good food as restaurant prices climb and portion sizes stay massive — a combination he warns could spell disaster for diners and the independent restaurant industry as well.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Zimmern called for a reset in how America eats, meaning smaller portions of meat, more seafood and menus that let everyday diners return to neighborhood restaurants instead of defaulting to fast-food chains.

Host of the Emmy Award-winning “Hope in the Water” series and co-author of the new “Blue Food Cookbook,” Zimmern said the problem isn’t that Americans don’t love good food. It’s that the system designed to serve it is failing them.

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“Restaurants are the lifeblood of America’s main street,” Zimmern said. 

“And we’re pricing people out of being able to go to restaurants, so they have to go chains.”

Andrew Zimmern of Minnesota, shown here, believes Americans are being priced out of good food. (Madeleine Hill)

Zimmern said the food that chain restaurants are serving, in “not all, but in many cases,” is just “not good for you.”

“It includes a lot of processed foods,” he added.

Zimmern is also concerned about independent restaurants in major American cities that are struggling to make ends meet under the weight of rising costs, labor shortages and changing consumer habits, according to data from the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

Many chain restaurants are serving processed foods that are “not good for you,” says a celebrity chef.  (iStock)

About nine in 10 independent restaurant owners surveyed by the Independent Restaurant Coalition report having to raise menu prices to cope with the increased cost of doing business.

“What types of restaurants are closing? Independent ones,” he said. 

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“What types of restaurants are opening? Non-independent ones.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association for comment.

The Independent Restaurant Coalition reports that many small restaurants are struggling to stay open amid rising costs and changing consumer habits. (iStock)

Zimmern believes the solution starts with both restaurants and diners changing their expectations.

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Instead of super-sized entrées, Zimmern said, restaurants should offer “more affordable menus with smaller portions of meat or animal protein as the centerpiece of the plate, so that more people can engage in restaurant culture.”

The celebrity chef wants more people to “engage in restaurant culture.” (iStock)

Zimmern also wants consumers to ask more questions about where their food comes from and how restaurants source it.

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“I think we need to, as consumers, ask more questions in restaurants and hold their feet to the fire, at the same time, about where they’re doing their purchasing,” he said.

For Zimmern, it’s about reviving a national love affair with food and a return to restaurant culture — “which means going to them, celebrating there” – that includes everyone, not just those who can pay premium prices.

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“I think we need to be serving all people and inviting them into restaurants.”