Jae-Ha Kim

To television viewers, Andrew Zimmern of “Bizarre Foods” fame is known as that guy who’ll eat anything. And he’d like Americans to give it a shot, too. “Open up and expand your horizons, people!” says the James Beard Award-winning chef and author. “My favorite mixed metaphor is, ‘Put on your big girl pants and man up!’ I am unable to comprehend a place on the planet where the food is ‘too different.’”

A bona-fide foodie, Emeril Lagasse picks New Orleans as one of the all-time great food destinations. “We have unbelievable food here in New Orleans,” says Lagasse, 51. “There is a season for everything down here — shrimp, oysters, strawberries, crabs. No other place has such a direct connection to the farms and fisheries. You can’t beat going to Jazz Fest and getting a soft-shell crab po’ boy, or jambalaya at Mardi Gras or making a big pot of seafood gumbo on football weekends.

“There is no difference between my job and my life,” says “Top Chef Just Desserts” host Gail Simmons. “It’s one big blur and it’s all delicious. I travel and seek out great food. That’s kind of how I plan my trips, and my life.” Born in Toronto and currently residing in New York City, the 35-year-old TV personality — who also handles special projects for Food and Wine magazine — studied at the Institute of Culinary Education and worked in the kitchens of the Vong restaurants and Le Cirque 2000. Her memoir, “Talking with My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater,” will hit stores next year.

People know who Bobby Flay is because he is everywhere. The celebrity restaurateur (Mesa Grill) is the Food Network’s face of grilling, an Iron Chef and host of the network’s biggest show “Food Network Star,” which premieres this season on Sunday, June 5. Though Flay loves traveling overseas, the 46-year-old culinary artist says if he were forced to pick between visiting domestic or international locales, he’d pick the United States.

On “Blais Off,” chef Richard Blais takes a scientific approach to cooking. That’s fitting, since the series airs on the Science Channel. “I’m not a scientist so I have to do a lot of fact-checking to make sure everything’s correct,” says Blais, 38.

Kathy Benziger Threlkeld knows her wine. The 44-year-old Sonoma, Calif., resident is a partner in the family business: Benziger Family Winery. An avid traveler who enjoys destinations that offer both snow and beachfront views, she picks a Wisconsin resort as her all-time favorite hotel.

For his latest book, “Planet Barbecue” (Workman Publishing, $35), master griller Steven Raichlen traveled to 60 countries to see for himself how grilling is done in places such as South Korea, Uruguay and South Africa. With his first-hand knowledge, he put together more than 300 barbecue recipes that are eclectic yet basic enough for the average home griller to follow. The 57-year-old chef describes his life as spending “half the year in Miami, half the year in Martha’s Vineyard and half the year on airplanes. No wonder I’m so tired.”

When a friend asked Jill Litwin to help her make healthy and tasty meals for her child, Litwin put together a few yummy, kid-friendly dishes. These ideas became the starting point for Peas of Mind, an organic frozen food company catering to kids who’ve outgrown standard jarred baby food. Based in San Francisco, the energetic 35-year-old CEO loves to travel, whether it’s to nearby Sonoma or to the beaches of Jamaica. Litwin talks about some of her favorite hotels, why she always travels with a scarf and a custard shop in Greenfield, Wis., that makes her mouth water.

The Chicago Carifete celebrated its 13th anniversary Saturday in Hyde Park with music, costumes and a parade. But it was the mouth-watering Caribbean dishes that attracted some of the fest’s most loyal attendees. “We love the food because it tastes really authentic,” says Arlene Levels of Indianapolis, who traveled with three bus loads of foodies for this year’s Carifete. “And it tastes really authentic because the vendors are all from the Caribbean. This isn’t something you can get in a mall.” She and her friends Carla Lewis and Baretta Shannon began their day eating Jamaican beef patties—a dish traditionally made with beef, hot peppers, thyme and paprika stuffed into a doughy pocket.

Oprah Winfrey couldn’t do it. Michael Jordan had to change his game plan. And even Wolfgang Puck hightailed it back to Los Angeles after his restaurant failed in Chicago. Could it be that the Second City actually is more persnickety about celebrity-owned eateries than its East and West Coast counterparts? Quite possibly, when it comes to restaurants owned by celebrities — whether they’re athletes or superstar chefs.