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Amazon Prime's travel series The Envoy features crew who worked on Anthony Bourdain's series
The show's host Anne Marie Hagerty told PEOPLE about culinary diplomacy, her career change and how her show is inspired by the late celebrity chef
The Envoy's first episode is set in Senegal and focuses on fonio, a West African grain
Some of the crew behindAnthony Bourdain's award-winning seriesParts UnknownandNo Reservationsare backing a brand-new food and travel show.
Amazon Prime's showThe Envoyfocuses on food's ability to influence culture withAnne Marie Hagertyat the helm. Each episode of the series highlights different countries "through the lens of culinary diplomacy" with the first episode focusing on Senegal.
"The heart and soul of theshowis to give a spotlight and give the microphone to people who deserve it the most and have not gotten it historically," the 29-year-old told PEOPLE.
Hagerty, a former CBS journalist, made a career change after becoming "so captivated" with "how food is a tool to change our local economy."
"When I was in TV, I was covering house fires, and murders, and a lot of really 'the world is burning'-type of topics. And there's a phrase in news, 'If it bleeds, it leads.' That was the status quo," Hagerty said, adding that she pivoted to PR and marketing work before quitting in May 2024.
TheForbes30 Under 30recipient described pitching her ideas about food diplomacy coverage and thinking "no one's getting it." "And that process was the background that led to the leap of 'I have such a clear vision for what this can become and so deeply believe in it that I have to go and jump and do it.'"
Flash-forward to now, she works with an award-winning team. She explained, "It's Bourdain's former producer, Academy Award-winning director, seven-time Emmy award-winning showrunner, really insanely talented people."
Hagerty recruited the crew by looking into who was behind particular episodes of travel series. "That was a lot of Googling of episodes and like, 'Okay, who produced this one, and who's the director on this one,' and, 'Oh my gosh, I love how they did this in Thailand,' and like, 'Ooh, let's find that person,'" she said.
Finding the right show idea and crew was only part of the journey to creating the series, Hagerty said: "Media costs a lot of money, flying around the world costs a lot of money."
Working with tourism boards was the answer to getting funding, she explained. But, in order to find the right places to highlight, Hagerty needed to get in touch with these organizations, which is easier said than done. "I started signing up for trade shows where I heard there were big government tents and that sort of thing. I started walking around, pounding the pavement," she laughed.
Now, the ball is rolling with one episode released and an episode focused on Finland on the way. Behind-the-scenes and in the episodes, Bourdain's influence onThe Envoyis evident, Hagerty explained.
"One of the most unique things to me is when we're in team meetings talking about a story, they'll be like, 'Oh, you know what Tony would say? La, di, da, da, da.' The familiarity is almost jarring, but also really beautiful because they learned so much from those experiences," she said.
The late celebrity chef's significance to the series is evident in its released episode. In the segment, celebrated Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam answers Hagerty's questions about fonio, a native West African grain that the episode focuses on. Meanwhile, back in 2016, Thiam guided Bourdain through Senegal in a season 7 episode ofParts Unknown.
"We're not trying to be Bourdain. No one ever will be," Hagerty said. "What we want to do is ask what has happened since that episode in Senegal, and what does the future look like?"
Read the original article onPeople
