Steven Rinella

Steven Rinella
Born
Steven John Rinella

(1974-02-13) February 13, 1974 (age 50)
Twin Lake, Michigan, U.S.
Education1992-94 Muskegon Community College

1994 Lake Superior State University 1995-1997 Grand Valley State University (graduated with BA in English)

1997-2000 University of Montana (graduated with MFA in creative non-fiction)
Occupation(s)Outdoorsman, television personality, writer, and trapper
TelevisionMeatEater
SpouseCatherine Finch

Steven Rinella (born February 13, 1974) is an American outdoorsman, conservationist, writer, and television personality known for translating the hunting and fishing lifestyle to a wide variety of audiences.

Early life

Steven Rinella, who is of Italian descent, was born in Twin Lake, Michigan on February 13, 1974. He grew up in Twin Lake along with his two older brothers, who were taught to hunt and fish at an early age by their father.[1]

Career

Television

The Wild Within

Prior to MeatEater, Rinella hosted The Wild Within, an 8-episode series on the Travel Channel.

MeatEater

Rinella is the host of MeatEater, a weekly half-hour hunting show. The show ran for six seasons on Sportsman Channel before moving to Netflix in 2018. The show is based on Rinella's hunting and fishing adventures in such locations as Montana (deer, elk); Alaska (waterfowl, mountain goat, Dall sheep, caribou, black bear, moose); Mexico (wild turkey, buffalo); New Zealand (tahr, chamois, red stag); Arizona (mountain lion, Coues deer); Wisconsin (white-tailed deer, rabbit, beaver, muskrat); and California (wild pigs, quail, and turkey.)

The show offers a defense of hunting and makes the case that hunters are obligated to be stewards of the land and protectors of their chosen prey species.[2] The episodes include interesting and sometimes artful food preparations after the hunt. Examples include a deer's heart wrapped in caul fat and roasted over a fire, javelina meat boiled inside the animal's own stomach, and more common preparations. The series premiered on January 1, 2012, and has completed its eleventh season.

In 2018, he directed and starred in the film Stars In The Sky: A Hunting Story. The film follows a group of hunters as they grapple with complexities in the wild.

Other

Rinella appeared in the 2023 Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo.[3] Other publications featured in: Outside, Field and Stream, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Glamour, Bowhunter, O The Oprah Magazine, the New Yorker, American Heritage, and many other publications.

Books

  • The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine (2006)
  • American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon (2009)
  • Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter (2013)
  • The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game (2015)
  • The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook (2018)
  • The Meateater Guide To Wilderness Skills and Survival (2020)
  • Outdoor Kids in an Inside World: Getting Your Family Out of the House and Radically Engaged with Nature (2022)
  • Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars: Fun Projects, Skills, and Adventures for Outdoor Kids (2023)
  • MeatEater's American History: The Long Hunters (1761-1775) (2024)
  • The MeatEater Outdoor Cookbook: Wild Game Recipes for the Grill, Smoker, Campstove, and Campfire (2024)

Podcasts

Rinella hosts a podcast called The MeatEater Podcast that ranks among the top ten sports podcasts.[4] In addition to hosting his own podcast, Rinella is also a frequent guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast hosted by Joe Rogan, the two have also been frequent hunting companions with Rogan appearing on Rinella's television program MeatEater.[5]

Awards and nominations

In 2012, MeatEater was nominated for Sportsman Channel's Sportsman Choice Awards for Best New Series, Best Host, Best Hunting Show and Best Educational Show [6]

A year earlier, The Wild Within was a James Beard Awards finalist for best Television Program, On Location.[7]

American Buffalo won a number of awards, including the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award[8] and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.[9] It was also an Amazon Editors'pick for Best History[10] and one of The San Francisco Chronicleʼs best fifty non-fiction books of 2008.[11]

References

  1. ^ Rinella, Steven. "Why I'm going to teach my son to hunt". americanhunter.org. American Hunter. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  2. ^ "MeatEater's Steven Rinella is helping America rethink its relationship with hunting". finance.yahoo.com. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  3. ^ "THE AMERICAN BUFFALO: A FILM BY KEN BURNS: Meet the Filmmakers". pbs.org. PBS. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  4. ^ Staley, Oliver (October 23, 2020). "MeatEater's Steven Rinella is helping America rethink its relationship with hunting". Quartz. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  5. ^ Jones, Tony (July 19, 2018). "Outdoors celebrity Steven Rinella embraces the wild within and without". Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  6. ^ "Releases - Sportsman Channel". Sportsman Channel. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Here Are the 2012 James Beard Awards Finalists". eater.com. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. ^ "News at Northland College | Ashland, WI". Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  9. ^ "PNBA 2009 Book Awards". Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  10. ^ American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon Paperback – September 15, 2009. ISBN 0385521693.
  11. ^ "The 50 best nonfiction books of 2008". sfgate.com. 21 December 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2017.