Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is a travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel in the US. The first season began on Monday, February 6, 2007, at 9pm ET/PT.
Bizarre Foods focuses on regional cuisine from around the world which is typically perceived as being disgusting, exotic or bizarre. In each episode, Zimmern focuses on the cuisine of a particular country or region. He typically shows how the food is procured, where it is served and, usually without hesitation, eats it.
Originally a one-hour documentary titled Bizarre Foods of Asia, repeated showings on the Travel Channel drew consistent, considerable audiences. In late 2006, TLC decided to turn the documentary into a weekly, one-hour show with the same premise and with Zimmern as the host. In 2009, Zimmern took a break from Bizarre Foods to work on one season of the spin-off Bizarre World.
Episodes Season 1 # Air date Location Notes/Featured Bizarre FoodsPilot (0)November 1, 2006AsiaPilot episode in Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia. Tokyo: Getemono bar, at Asadachi (1-2-14 Nishi-Shinjuku) raw pig's testicles, Frog sashimi, plus the frog's beating heart, lizard sake, at Yaki Hamna: Giant snails, fugu, at Hibari sushi, raw octopus sushi. at Suppon-Maki restaurant: Suppon (turtle soup) + drink: turtle blood with sake and turtle hearts. Yakitori restaurant: chicken heart yakitori, keel bones, chicken butts, rooster balls. Kobe: Kobe beef. Bangkok: at Silver Palace, bird's nest soup with Hasma, Rambutan, grilled fresh frogs Chiang Mai: pork sausage, fruit bat. Penang: sambal with fish roe, belacan, fermented shrimp paste, poured tea, horseshoe crab, fish maw, durian.1 (1)February 26, 2007PhilippinesBalut, Calamansi, Bamboo shoots, Coconut and rice paste wrapped on banana leaves and roasted, Okoy (shrimp pancake), Deep fried fertilized duck eggs, baby chickens marinated, steamed and fried, tokneneng, Ube and cheese-flavor ice cream in a bun. At Balaw Balaw in Angono, Rizal: Balaw-balaw sauce, with fermented shrimp paste, soup Number Five (bull's rectum and testicles soup), uok in adobo, white worms from the larvae of crickets or beetles found in fallen coconut trees, crispy fried Alagaw leaves, ginatang bilo-bilo. At Everybody's Café in San Fernando, Pampanga: Dinuguan, a blood stew, crickets of rice fields cooked in adobo style, Betute Tugak (stuffed frog with pork). Puerto Princesa: Banana skewers, bananas rolled in brown sugar and deep-fried with caramelized sugar crust, fried chicken intestines on a stake. Kinabuchs: seaweed, mussels on a half shell, grilled tuna belly, snails cooked with coconut, tuna collars grilled. Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, mangrove worms.2 (2)March 5, 2007MoroccoMarrakesh: Mashwi, roasted lamb, sheep's head steamed, tongue and eye, snails in turmeric broth, beef tongue, cow's heart, pancreas stuffed with rice and raisins. Khlea, dried cooked meat preserved in fat, cooked with eggs. Ouarzazate: Tajine with chicken and vegetables, mint tea, grilled kidneys, kefta, sausages. Essaouira: cuttlefish, stingray, sardines. Eureka: couscous with goat and vegetables. Chahramans Restaurant, Marrakesh: Pastilla with pigeon, Briouat. Jemaa el-Fnaa: poached calf's brain.3 (3)March 12, 2007EcuadorQuito: Guinea pig, empanada. Motes de la Magdalena: menudo (tripe soup), cuero de librillo (outer lining of the cow stomach), guatita with the inner lining of cow stomach. Otavalo: motes, roast pork with skin, fried cheese empanada, elixir with aloe vera, jugo de sabila, and vitamin extracts. Puerto Francisco de Orellana, Napo River: lemon ants, piranha, coconut grubs, chicha.
Zimmern participates in a cleansing ritual.4 (4)March 19, 2007SpainMadrid: Tapas Casa Botín: Cochinillo asado, baby eels, baby squid braisend on their ink. La Zapatería: cruncy pig ears, snails, polbo á feira (octopus), bull's tails Toño Sánchez: callos, casserole with blood sausage and tripe Market: mojama, criadillas (bull testicles), tripe. Museo del Jamón: Serrano, Ibérico, Bellota, head cheese. La trainera: Goose barnacle, shrimp, turbot, crab. Barcelona: La Bouqueria: razor clams, deep-fried worms, crickets. La Gardunya: Calf's brain, horchata Les Cols: Rooster comb risotto Ferran Adrià: El Bulli.5 (5)March 26, 2007The Gulf CoastMorgan City, Louisiana: Nutria, squirrel Maurice, Louisiana: Herbert's Specialty Meats, Turducken, Soop's: boudin, stuffed beef tongue New Orleans: Cochon restaurant, boudinballs, head cheese, smoked ox stew, deep fried chicken liver. Hattiesburg: Leathe's restaurant, opossum, raccoon; Serendipity Deli and Restaurant: chitterlings. Mobile: Wintzell's Oyster House, fried green vinegar pickled peppers, fried green tomatoes with crayfish sauce, 33 oysters. Alligator Alley, The Wash House Restaurant: alligator feast. Pensacola, Fish House restaurant: black grouper throats, gazpachee salad with hardtack. Chef's restaurant: flathead mullet deep fried, gizzard, fried mullet roe.6 (6)April 2, 2007United KingdomEdinburgh: Crombie's haggis, hunted pheasant Swansea: faggot, cockles and whelks, laverbread. Cotswolds: jugged hare, kidney and liver meatballs, Christmas pudding. London: Harrods, jellied eels, blood tongue sausage. In East End, F. Cooke, pie and mash, stewed eels. Borough Market, Roast restaurant, pigeon, ox heart grilled with bone marrow sauce, herring roes, Neil Yard Dairy, Stinking Bishop cheese Banger shop, fresh Italian gelato.7 (7)July 9, 2007Trinidad and TobagoTobago: Iguana curry with dumplings, conch and relative penis in ceviche. Trinidad: Original souse king, souse, pig's and chicken's feet, cow skin soup. Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago, Street food: roti stuffed with goat and liver, doubles, cow heel's soup. Maracas Beach: callaloo, "Bake n' shark sandwich, fried bread stuffed with deep fried shark with sauces and vegetables, king mackerel sashimi.8 (8)July 16, 2007MexicoHuatulco: Shellfish, scallops, oysters, sea snails, mussels, abalone, octopus, El Grillo Marinero Restaurant: with garlic sauce or stewed in its own ink, cocktail de pulpo. Oaxaca: grasshopper (chapulines), armadillo, tacos, jumiles, ant eggs (escamoles), maguey worms, mosquito eggs, chicken feet, red snapper (huachinango), corn smut (huitlacoche), mole and duck enchilada. Mexico City9 (9)July 23, 2007AlaskaBeluga and Bowhead whale muktuk (fermented blubber), spruce tea, Alaskan ice cream, whitefish, fermented fish heads, seal soup, walrus, jellied moose nose, reindeer pizza, ptarmigan. Zimmern goes on a sled dog tour.10 (10)July 30, 2007TaiwanStinky tofu, unborn chicken eggs, cockscomb, chicken uterus, fermented meat, black-bone chicken testicles, fried bees.11 (11)August 6, 2007New York CitySpecial episode with guest Anthony Bourdain. Tongue sandwich, geoduck, live lobster, ceviche, pupusas, worm pretzels, maggot pupae, tarantula pops, teriyaki cockroaches, jellyfish salad, sea cucumber salad, goose intestine, frog congee, salo.12 (12)August 13, 2007VietnamCobra parts including beating heart and dried bones, civet dropping coffee, pig's ears, silk worms, scorpions, roasted sparrows, bull penis, horseshoe crab, hybrid duck, mantis prawn, ship worms, and sea snails. Zimmern also visits a fish sauce factory.13 (13)November 28, 2007Memorable MomentsSeason 1 recap with some of its highlights, including lamb's head, guinea pig, roast pigeon, worms, grubs, armadillo, and stinky tofu. Also included were outtakes and unaired scenes.14 (14)February 26, 2008Best BitesSeason 1 recap with some of its highlights, including balut, hen's uterus, grubs, conch, ptarmigan, jellied eels, nutria, octopus and souse. Also included were unaired scenes and a preview of season 2.
Season 2 # Air date Location Notes/Featured Bizarre Foods15 (1)March 4, 2008Beijing, ChinaCicada, seahorse, sea urchin, donkey rib and tail stew and skin, dried tree lizard, sea cucumber, camel paw, pig stomach, dao jiao, snake penis, fried deer penis, yak penis, whelk over dry ice.16 (2)March 11, 2008IcelandHákarl, grilled puffin, slátur (a type of blood pudding), skyr, lamb hot dog, geothermal cooking: langoustine, minke whale (not shown on Iceland episode but shown during the 3/3/09 "Surf's Up" episode).17 (3)March 18, 2008St. Petersburg, RussiaVobla, borscht, cow's tongue, kvass, herring blini, salo, pickled lamprey, brown bear meat, caviar, shashlik.18 (4)March 25, 2008MinnesotaPig's foot, lutefisk, reuben on a stick, spaghetti and meatballs on a stick, gator on a stick, teriyaki ostrich on a stick, wild boar's liver, brain, and testicles, venison, sauerkraut pie, deep fried chicken gizzards, goober burger (with peanut butter and mayonnaise), herring roe.19 (5)April 1, 2008BoliviaLamb kidneys, tripe, bull penis soup, all-organ dish, llama brain and tongue, carpaccio, pickled pig's feet, lamb jerky, chitterlings, mocochinchi (peach juice with cinnamon), llama jerky, chuño, mangosteen, armadillo, feral pig, quinoa, Titicaca Orestias.20 (6)April 8, 2008ChileAbalone, Pacific razor clams, cow udder, braided intestines, blood sausage, lúcuma juice, donkey milk, cow's butt sandwich, barnacles, mussels, seaweed, horse, conger eel, live sea squirt, fresh bull testicle and scrotum stew, lamb's blood pudding.21 (7)April 15, 2008Guangzhou, China Grilled squid, dim sum with chicken feet, stuffed duck's feet, stir-fried milk with shrimp, turtle soup, pigeon, scorpion, suckling pig, jellyfish salad, worm and hairy crab roe omelet, wood ear mushroom, frog legs, 60 meter long noodle, stinkhorn, hairy gourd, starfish being used for decoration.22 (8)April 29, 2008Delhi, IndiaPomfret, lentil, brain curry, mutton liver and kidney stew, tandoori roti, goat and lamb testicles, paneer, boiled banana flower, banana plant stem, fruit sandwich, panipuri, lassi, mutton balls, gushtaba, chapati.
Season 3 # Air date Location Notes/Featured Bizarre Foods23 (1)September 9, 2008Phuket, ThailandFried grasshoppers, pork liver and beef stomach and intestine soups, coconut balls, stretched squid, stuffed mackerel, wasp larvae, stir-fried stingray, mole crabs, wasabi-, chili-, and tom yum-flavored cashews and cashew apple juice at a cashew factory, red weaver ants, forest lizards, fish stomach sauce, deep-fried fish skin, horseshoe crab, sea whelk.24 (2)September 16, 2008Sicily, ItalyCow stomach soup, mystery meat soup, beef spleen sandwich, sardine meatballs, gourmet cow's mouth, Cerda Artichoke Festival: fried, roasted, marinated, and frittata artichoke, and artichoke gelato on a bun, chocolate rabbit, cinnamon pudding, bottarga, tuna heart and sperm, cuttlefish eggs and pasta with ink, sea snails.25 (3)September 23, 2008Goa, IndiaBora berry, chouricos (spicy pig offal and fat sausage), pickled mackerel, vindaloo, hilsa fish roe, Bombay duck, chicken xacuti, pomfret, prawns, chickpea sandwich, golgappa (chickpea-stuffed pastries), chili fritters, betel nuts, sorpotel, mushroom and lentil curry, potatoes and rice in sour mango sauce cow urine herb drink
Zimmern visits the Sahakari Spice Farm and tries Ayurveda and yoga.26 (4)September 30, 2008SamoaSamoan apple, se'a (sea cucumber intestines), pork pies, mutton, umu-cooked eel, whole pig cooked in 'umu oven, raw tuna eyeballs and still-beating heart, giant clam, roasted tree grubs, fruit bat roasted on coconut husks.27 (5)October 7, 2008ParisTerrine, head cheese, lardo, pressed duck with duck sauce and marrow, blood sausage, squab, gourmet mustard, truffles, refined cheese, rabbit liver, bacon and eggs ice cream, lamb tongues, sea urchin, snail caviar, escargot.