Is there anything that Big Zuu can’t do? Grime artist, TV chef, founder of a production company, and now the star of a new travelogue, we’re inclined to say no. Known to friends and family as Zuhair Hassan, the star grew up in West London, developing his sound at his local youth centre before taking it global with debut album Navigate. But to some, he’s even better known for his work hosting the series Big Zuu’s Big Eats, where he prepares meals with guests and stand-up comedians. A grand success, it prompted him to embark on a new project in the foodie sphere.

Titled 12 Dishes in 12 Hours, the series shows the double-BAFTA winner travelling around Europe, chatting with celebrity guests and trying various foods. As he makes his way from city to city, he shows a nuanced glimpse into the culture and culinary breadth in each. With a goal to “showcase different sides of food that you might not see in these places,” the series differs from other food travelogues. “In Italy, Bologna, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant,” he explains. “In Marseille we went to a Senegalese place. In Cyprus we went to a place that did food from Cote d’lvoire. It’s just showcasing different places throughout the show, which is amazing.”

Big Zuu is set to release the first episode of 12 Dishes in 12 Hours tomorrow, featuring Will Poulter, and we caught up with him to chat about the exciting project.

Read the interview…

How has 2023 treated you? What has been a standout moment?
2023 was an incredible, beautiful year – a lot of self-growth and development. A standout moment? I would say the Pepsi ad – hearing my voice on a Pepsi ad was incredible. People stopped me in the street like, they were like, “oh, you’re that Pepsi ad guy!” Like okay? I also do a lot of other stuff but, yeah I can be the Pepsi ad guy. That, and filming 12 Dishes. Just the fact that I’m able to film a travelogue with ITV was unbelievable.
 
Congratulations on your exciting new ITV travelogue, 12 Dishes in 12 Hours! Can you expand on how this project was born and where the idea came from?
It came from the incredible people of Big Productions. We came up with the format, the idea, with my good friend Mr Ro (Rohan) Minhas who works at TwoFour and also developed Big Zuu’s Big Eats. Pitched it to the ITV people then and Big Productions and TwoFour came together and created the show. It’s just to kind of celebrate my love for food and love for travel in one place. And I feel like the natural progression from what I was doing for Big Eats was to go on to doing a travelogue which is what you see a lot of chefs do.
 
Which celebrity guest were you most excited to have on the show?
Patrice Evra without a shadow of a doubt. His presence, the way he acts as a person, he’s hilarious, he’s funny, he’s jokes. I knew it would be an incredible show and it ended up being that, so I can’t wait for people to see what me and Patrice were like.
 
Where does your love for cooking originate?
I’ve always been a fat kid. People say “big boned”, I say “fat kid”. I’ve always loved food. I also come from Sierra Leone, West African background and in West African food, in cooking, food is such a big thing you share with you family. A big massive plate of food – it’s what you do!
 
What is the motive and mission behind 12 Dishes in 12 Hours?
I guess to show people different sides of food. To show people different places and to also show a travelogue from a different view, you know? People normally see a Rick Stein, a James Martin, a Gordon, Gino, Fred going on these travelogues about food. You never see someone like myself going to these places. A young man from the hood in London, you know what I’m saying? I feel like it’s to give a different narrative but also to showcase different sides of food that you might not see in these places. In Italy, Bologna, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant. In Marseille we went to a Senegalese place. In Cyprus we went to a place that did food from Cote d’lvoire. It’s just showcasing different places throughout the show, which is amazing.
 
What can viewers expect with this new show?
You can expect a different Zuu, not the same Zuu from Big Eats — because I’m not doing the cooking, I’m not doing the hosting, I’m not doing the interviewing, I’m just eating – so it’s a bit more of a laidback version of myself. I feel like you can expect a different vibe when it comes to a travel show. This is not your typical travelogue, this is a travel show about food, so it’s a very good watch and I hope that people are going to want more. When you watch it you want to see more. You want to see us go to more places and do more things, so, you know, six episodes to start but I’d love to make a hundred million episodes.
 
How does it feel to be the proud owner of Big Productions?
It’s incredible, you know. As a young man my age from where I’m from, to be the owner of a production company. To head it and work it and have incredible co-productions flowing right now, like we did with Big Eats and 12 Dishes in 12 Hours, you know, getting our foot in the door, it feels incredible. We have our deal with Banijay that we’ve done and I just feel like we’re moving to great places and doing incredible things.
 
Why did you start your own production company?
To have more ownership over the work that I do but also give more opportunities to people from my background to get into television and entertainment. You know, to make a change in an industry I feel like you need more people like myself in positions of power and that’s what me having a production company did. It also gave me more of an insight on how TV works from the top down and I feel like that’s what’s let me be able to grow so much. It’s because I’ve been able to understand the industry, not just as talent but also as a producer.
 
What plans do you have for 2024? Anything exciting in the works?
I’m gonna be making my second album which is very fun! A lot of it’s done already – I’m gonna be polishing it off. More TV shows from me, hopefully another season of 12 Dishes if it does well. Hopefully more Big Eats and more different ventures within food as well.
 
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Starter, main and dessert.
Starter — top of my head would probably be garlic bread with cheese, you can never go wrong. Main would be fufu okra stew — it’s my favourite dish ever made. And dessert would be primary school cake, sprinkle cake, Tottenham cake — whatever you want to call it. The cake with the icing and hundreds and thousands with custard… because I’m boring.

Watch Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes in 12 Hours, Saturdays at 10 pm on ITV1 and ITVX