Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is a travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. The first season debuted on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 9pm ET/PT.
Bizarre Foods focuses on regional cuisine from around the world which is typically perceived by Americans 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, it was decided to turn the documentary into a weekly, one-hour show with the same premise and with Andrew Zimmern as the host. In 2009, Zimmern took a break from Bizarre Foods to work on one season of the spin-off Bizarre World.
There is at least one episode with a dead canine animal. The episode set in NY (in the Bronx, I believe) that shows a coyote without fur to be used in a meal later. This animal is part of the Genus: Canis and this may be an upsetting to those who follow this tag.
Fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, and shellfish have been shown dispatched on camera. Some animal, such as goats, are shown dispatched sometimes. But I do not think it is shown every episode. There is an episode on food in Iran, if I’m not mistaken, that shows a camel in it’s final “throws” a bit longer than a couple seconds but it’s not a continuous focus of the camera. There may be other episodes where this true with other animals.
This show displays food that uses uncommon animal products. It is not limited to just animal based foods but there is, to my knowledge, no episode that is entirely vegetarian, much less vegan.
Eyes are some of the uncommon foods shown on this program. But there is nothing I would consider mutilation. People who are uncomfortable with eye mutilation may find the consumption of said organ upsetting or repulsive.
I don’t consider it to be so but, some may. The butchery of animals from land, sea, and air is very commonplace. Some people would consider this gore. This is shown on camera. There are occasions it will happen off screen but this show portrays not just food consumption but food production, as well. You literally “see how the sausage is made” on this show.
There are sometimes clips of animals in distress before being dispatched. But this is not something the show makes light of or purposefully uses for shock value. It’s a natural reaction of the animal before it is processed for consumption. But, IMO, there are no sad animals. There may be bored animals but that is most likely the next closest emotion displayed that is anything remotely like a sad animal. And when that’s shown, it’s very brief b-roll.
Genitals are some of the uncommon foods shown on this program. But there is nothing I would consider mutilation. Some may consider part of the butchery process to constitute as such, though. People who are uncomfortable with genital mutilation may find the consumption of said organ upsetting or repulsive.