The anti-Teflon chef
Andrew Zimmern talks about why he supported California’s proposed PTFE phase-out—and what he thinks of the celebrity chefs who opposed it.
Yesterday’s story about celebrity chefs selling pans made with “forever chemicals” sparked a lot of conversation on Bluesky. My post racked up more than 300 reposts and a flood of replies—most of them expressing disappointment and outrage with the chefs themselves.
Tyler has a point. Polluting industries have been increasingly recruiting chefs and cooking influencers to serve as mouthpieces for their products. The propane industry, for example, has hired TV chef Dean Sheremet to promote cooking with the fossil fuel. And Southwest Gas has paid food and lifestyle influencers to post content framing methane gas as “clean” and essential for cooking.
As more stories like this come out, you’d be forgiven if you began to assume the entire celebrity chef ecosystem must be contaminated with industry influence. But that’s not the case.
Andrew Zimmern is the clearest counterpoint. The chef and restaurateur best known as the host of Bizarre Foods has long been an outspoken environmental advocate—from championing sustainable seafood regulations with the Global Seafood Alliance to pushing for food-system reform with the Environmental Working Group and highlighting food waste issues as a UN World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador. And he was the only celebrity chef who publicly advocated for California’s proposed phase-out of PTFE-coated non-stick pans.
Zimmern’s most powerful piece of advocacy for a California ban came in the form of a New York Times op-ed this October. In it, he argued that phasing out PTFE-coated pans wouldn’t just be a win for communities polluted by Teflon production, but a win for cooking as a whole.
”I believe that preparing food isn’t about shortcuts; it’s about attention,” he wrote. “When we trade durable materials for throwaway ones, we lose not only our health, but also a small part of our humanity, the part that knows how to care for something, maintain it, season it and pass it down.”
I interviewed Zimmern by email for yesterday’s story, but I had to cut his comments as the draft crept toward 2,000 words. Still, I didn’t want them to disappear entirely, especially because they offer a counter to the story’s overall gloomy narrative.
So here’s our full, albeit short, exchange. Hope you enjoy—and check out Zimmern’s Substack, Spilled Milk, if you’d like to read more about his take on food.
Emily Atkin: How did you come to your position on PTFE-coated cookware?
Andrew Zimmern: I became convinced that the issue of PFAS in cookware was serious enough based on groundwater studies on the areas around the factories where these chemicals are made. When I did my research, I came to the conclusion that there was no reason for these chemicals to exist—not only in cookware, but in all the other places that PFAS are used, we have adequate or improved replacements. So that means we are needlessly poisoning human beings. That’s unacceptable to me.
EA: What’s your reaction to seeing fellow celebrity chefs lobby against a PFAS-in-cookware bill while selling PTFE-coated products under their own names?
AZ: I can’t judge anyone else on this issue. Full stop. Some people enter deals, I know I have, only to learn later that there’s a problem with an ingredient or some other issue that had I known about it to start I would have made a different decision. My hope is that anyone involved with products using PFAS or PTFE coatings would speak up against it.
EA: How do you see the role and responsibility of chefs in public debates over chemicals and food safety, especially when their own brands are involved?
AZ: I think chefs have a huge responsibility in the public sphere when it comes to speaking out over any issues involving public health and dozens of other civic issues that chefs are extremely well versed in. Anyone with a platform of any kind who isn’t using it for making the changes in the world that we need to see, in my opinion, is squandering the gifts they’ve been given.
EA: What would you like to see policymakers do next on PFAS in cookware?
AZ: Ideally, I’d like to see a full ban. There is no reason, none whatsoever, that we need these ghastly chemicals in cookware or used in other products. They don’t make pans cheaper, they don’t make your cooking better, they aren’t needed in any way.
This story is part of a collaboration with The Understory, a weekly newsletter written by Atmos journalist Miranda Green. Check it out here.
Catch of the Day: Speaking of celebrities, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Fish, the dog for whom this section is named.
I just so happen to be with him today, and guess what:
He got new boots.
Want to see your furry (or non-furry!) friend in HEATED? Send a picture and some words to catchoftheday@heated.world.
Fish, your boots are lovely. Emily, I'm glad you shared this follow up - the quotes are so clear and refreshing, and I think they shine more brightly alone. Good call!
Thanks for this article. I 100% agree that PFAS should be eliminated from our planet.