Mexico, Helsinki and two Portlands are on the ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ menu
Phil Rosenthal wants you to travel, and if his series “Somebody Feed Phil” gets you to check out the locations he visits, then he’s a happy man.
“This is what life is for,” he says. “I realized that very early on, like in my early 20s when I first took my first trip. I had no money at all and I just got like a courier flight to Europe and it just blew my mind. And I just realized, ‘Oh, this is when I have money, this is what it will be for, to travel.’ There’s no better thing we can do.”
The Netflix travel/foodie series returns for its fifth season on Wednesday, May 25, and again follows the “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator to far-flung locations around the globe to meet the people and take in the sights, culture and cuisine. So in this round, he visits to Helsinki, Madrid, Portland (Maine and Oregon) and
Oaxaca, Mexico.
In fact, Oaxaca, the locale of the season opener, left Rosenthal blown away. Though best known for mezcal (which he watches being distilled), this visually striking city in the country’s southwest is also home to a vibrant culinary scene ranging from food carts to four star restaurants.
“It’s just an amazing, beautiful, artisanal place,” he says, “where you walk down the street and there’s a grandma with a cart who’s making quesadillas freshly on the street and you just swoon at how delicious it is. And you wonder, ‘How come it’s not as good at home?’ Which leads to the conclusion (that) if you love a food, go to the source of where that food is from. It will never be better than that.”
In another noteworthy episode, Rosenthal’s stop in Helsinki included lunch with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, a young wife and mother who at 34 became the youngest person to hold the
office.