The Action Bronson Way to Eat Around the World

Since February, I’ve been touring with Eminem around the world—across America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. A trip to the UK, Japan, and Canada are also in the cards. I’ve eaten some truly fucking delicious meals, but I have to look at my Instagram to refresh my memory. I had a beautiful rib-eye on a boat at one point. But the best thing that I’ve had so far this year was made by myself: Two bone-in rib-eyes that were gorgeously aged with roasted Brussels sprouts that have a little bit of caramelized turkey bacon with honey and chili. It’s pretty next level.

Whenever I have time to come home for a minute from being on the road, the first place I go to is mama’s house. I want mama to make me a good ol’ bagel and cheese with scrambled eggs—the eggs gotta be very softly scrambled though—or she makes me a traditional Albanian dish called börek, which is a dough filled with cheese. It’s like, you know, I just crave that, the way she makes it. I love it when it’s cold with some ketchup on it in the middle of the night. I don’t know how she makes it, but she makes it with a certain hand. My grandmother used to have the hand when she made it, and now my mother has the same hand. It’s all about having the hands. But I also have to stop at places like Eddie’s Sweet Shop, which has been a Queens staple for years. That neighborhood is where I came up, and everybody knows about that spot if you’re from the area. They make their own whipped cream every single day, and take it to a point where it’s almost butter. It is so stiff you could almost throw it at someone like a snowball. It’s incredible. They also make their own homemade ice creams, but I always order the malts and floats or whatever. The banana split is unheard of. They also make a good grilled cheese. I’m a grilled cheese with French fries addict. I would never put tomato in the middle, but I do put ketchup on it. I feel the tomato is unnecessary.

If I could describe what Fuck, That’s Delicious means, it is literally a feeling. There are no other words to describe what you just ate. You just have to curse and be vulgar and violent, you know what I mean.

I’d say out of all of the places I’ve traveled to, New Zealand definitely surprised me. It has incredible food, with a lot of really hip restaurants and great chefs. There were three at the Sky City Casino—a restaurant called Depot, and then there’s this Jewish delicatessen right next door, and then right next to that there’s a sushi spot. They’re all pretty incredible in their own rights. And Australia, man, that is where I’ve had some of the best Malaysian food of my life. I had incredible Chinese at Ms. G’s by David Wong—one of my favorite places that I’ve been to—that’s where I really started eatin’ fish. The rice cakes with the smoky pork belly sautéed together with broccoli is fuckin’ incredible.

I’m headed to the UK next month and can’t wait because I spend a lot of time there, and I can’t wait to explore the food culture. It gets a bad rap, but I’d like to dispel that. I love Jamaican food, so I’m gonna try to find the best versions of it while I’m out there. I’m also going to try Michael White’s chophouse over there. I’m still doing some research on where we should be going. I want to find the good shit, like street fair food, no bullshit.

I also got food poisoning on tour at this spot called Nando’s in South Africa, which was pretty bad. Threw and shit my life up at the same time—you know how it goes. I didn’t order anything out of the norm, I guess it was the chicken with rice that had a little bit of botulism in it or whatever. When you catch it in Africa, you don’t know what the fuck you got. I really thought I had caught some next shit.

More than anything, I’m very excited to be doing my new show, Fuck, That’s Delicious, which captures food moments from this tour. This is definitely something I’ve been wanting to do for a very, very, very long time, and I’m just happy that it’s come to life.

If I could describe what Fuck, That’s Delicious means, it is literally a feeling. There are no other words to describe what you just ate. You just have to curse and be vulgar and violent, you know what I mean.

As told to Helen Hollyman