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Every time Phil Rosenthal’s eyes go wide, you know you’re in for a treat. The eponymous host of the hit Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, doesn’t hide his emotions when he bites into local goodies from cities around the world.
The show inspires equal parts of wanderlust and hunger pangs as Rosenthal travels from Ireland to Japan to the Mississippi River Delta. Now, if you’ve watched the show, you’ve undoubtedly had these longings and cravings, which is why Rosenthal has done us all an enormous favour. He has written a companion book to the series, Somebody Feed Phil the Book, which features dozens of recipes from some of the world’s most famous chefs who have appeared on the show.
More about Phil Rosenthal new book
Want to know how Massimo Bottura created his famous Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano? It’s in the book. Interested in chef Alon Shaya’s sumptuous lutenitsa? It’s on pg. 74. Salivating over Ian Kittichai’s khao soi? You can now make it at home.
In addition to the recipes, there’s loads of behind-the-scenes photos and anecdotes that fans of the show will devour as well. So, we asked Rosenthal about the book, some of his adventures, and what’s coming up next in his world of food and travel.
How do you describe this book to people?
I wanted to make the ultimate companion book to the show, complete with stories, highlights, behind the scenes photos, and beautiful screen captures because we have amazing cinematographers. And then I thought, what if it was also the best cookbook in the world? So, we have 60 of the most requested recipes from the first four seasons of the show from, I think, the best chefs in the world.
When you say requested, who is asking for these recipes?
People DM me every day. Every single day. Do you want to know the most requested one? If you know the show, you know that I don't go into a lot of process. It’s not about that. It's not a cooking show. But there was one that I thought was so simple, and so great, and I knew wouldn't be time consuming, so I thought, I want to show it to you. And that's the pork chop in Venice. And I show it. Couldn't be easier. That's the most requested recipe, even though it's in the show. So, we put it in the book.
What were some of your favourite things about writing this book?
First of all, I knew I needed help. I knew I needed someone because I never wrote a cookbook before, I’m not a cookbook author. And this is kind of a hybrid type of book, right? So, I needed someone with some experience in the cookbook world; I could handle the other stuff. And the way I wrote my first book was I like talking more than writing even though it's still writing. I like telling my stories to someone who then has it transcribed and printed out, then I go over it, and then I fix it.
That's what I did with this, and I let the great Jenn Garbee handle the recipe parts and the organisational parts, which I also don't know for this type of book. So, in telling my stories to her again, and her asking me pertinent questions, I got to relive everything. It was also fun to go through the photos with my brother who took a good portion of the photos in the book on his iPhone. So, that was really fun too.
