Who is ImmigrantFoodie?
and thank you for reading
Hi! Welcome to my Substack. I promised to start running one of these as soon as the IG would hit 10,000 followers. Shockingly, it reached that number A LOT faster than I anticipated. If you’ve been following my videos, you might have some questions, so I’ll try and address them here!
1. Who the f@#k are you?
My name is Sergio Zaciu. I try to maintain a semblance of anonymity on Instagram but if you’re reading this you probably like me. Anyhow… I’m a filmmaker! My parents are Romanian-Turkish but I was born in Germany. I spent 2012-2020 living in Los Angeles, CA, attending university and working in the film industry, but was always a diehard foodie along the way. You may have noticed that I mention former LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold in my IG bio. He taught me that the best way to discover a city is to commit wholeheartedly to unearthing its culinary scene.
2. Why did you start reviewing Lisbon restaurants?
I’m a professional screenwriter and film critic (check out my film reviews on Letterboxd @immigrantfilm). The idea of covering Portugal’s restaurant scene came to me in April 2023: I was hitting up so many different eateries in this city that it seemed wasteful not to document them, and since nobody was making great Instagram content to help guide newcomers through the giant pool of culinary options, I decided to give it a whirl. It didn’t take long for the videos to perform well, but it was the success of my Burger Champ video that really made me aware of how many people are interested in these food reviews.
3. What’s the point of this Substack?
I want to use this space as an opportunity to post about things I otherwise would omit on the Instagram. This should be a hub for any fans who really want the inside scoop. I’ll be posting an official Lisbon Top 100 here, answer fan questions, and will hopefully scale this up to the point that I can announce events where we can all meet up in real life! Your financial support of this Substack will ultimately make it possible for me to keep the Instagram up-and-running. ImmigrantFoodie started as a fun summertime exercise, but as the year goes on, I also need to make this a sustainable business for myself. Your support is greatly appreciated.
4. Will ImmigrantFoodie expand to other cities?
Yes. I will inevitably vacation and take the channel elsewhere. In fact, I was supposed to be in Jordan in October, but that trip was sadly cancelled due to the current conflict in the Middle East. I would have loved to post about Jordanian delicacies. Regardless, I will almost certainly find myself in Bucharest, Berlin, London, and other parts of Europe in the near future, but for now Lisbon is home base!
5. Can you come to my restaurant?
Sure! DM me on Instagram anytime. I’m pretty good at checking my inbox.