Andrew Zimmern Cooks Up Bizarre Foods For Reluctant 'Today Show' Hosts Amy Robach And Lester Holt

Andrew Zimmern stopped by the "Today Show" on Saturday, January 21 to promote the new season of his show, "Bizarre Foods America", airing Monday, January 23 at 10 p.m. ET. Unlike past seasons, this season takes place solely in the U.S., to explore the food culture in our own backyards, so to speak.

In the segment below, Zimmern introduces the "benign" turtle to a particular squeamish Amy Robach, co-anchor for the Saturday "Today Show" along with Lester Holt. He then prepares a geoduck, as Robach continues to squirm. But when Zimmern shows a braised raccoon, she really loses it. Although she eventually tries a very small piece of the meat (though she and Holt avoid the stuffed pig stomach), her reaction proves exactly why this is great timing for Zimmern's show to air. Hopefully, as a result of this season, people won't be so scared to try unfamiliar foods, and will be able to learn to embrace the bizarre.

Watch the squirming below:

Comments

[climbing panda]

02:39 PM on 01/24/2012

next on the diabetes parade....

[kvolovesart]

09:18 AM on 01/24/2012

That is simply disgusting...I cannot stomach his show...what's next, he'll fry up his own feces?

[MaryinNM]

12:43 AM on 01/24/2012

That was great! Listen, I've eaten my share of what Americans call "bizarre foods," and you are missing out! I've eaten horse steak, pigeon (squab for the more delicate among us), cuye (that's guinea pig), and some univalve I ate raw that a friend of mine pried off a rock in Half Moon Bay. All were delicious! Life is an adventure! If someone else ate it and lived, chances are you will too! Eat, drink, be merry!

[bmitche]

12:00 AM on 01/24/2012

I've watched Andrew Zimmern eat everything from worms to rats. He loves that stuff.

[Jaynelbob]

11:46 PM on 01/23/2012

Hah. that's nothing. Kudos to anyone who could eat EVERYTHING on this list:

http://www.openjourney.com/article/18-stinky-foods-around-the-world-41.html

Durian, shrimp paste and fish sauce are the only ones I've tried, but they are tame compared to the rest of the list. Stinky tofu, yew.

[bentbouy1]

08:56 PM on 01/23/2012

He was on Fox and Frnds too and it was breakfast and has some gruesoe food.??? I wear I thought I was gonna puke at the stuff he had and wanted Gretchen to eat.

[casper48626]

08:33 PM on 01/23/2012

Most people are too squirmish about things like this. I will try almost anything once. When I was a youngster living at home one of my favorite meats was blood sausage. I can't find it now, but we had it quite often back then. People should all try a new food once in awhile, you might be surprised how tasty it is. My parents loved a lunch meat called Head Cheese. Myself I did try it several times, but just never could aquire a taste for it. Another favorite for my father and I was Limburger Cheese with a slice of onion sandwich. He always had his with a bottle of beer, I had to wait until I was older, but I still enjoyed it. Now that is one most people will not try! LOL

[MaryinNM]

12:46 AM on 01/24/2012

I don't know where you live, but you may want to try and find a true butcher near you. If you love blood sausage, there may be a butcher near you who does that. Also, search for online charcuteries/butchers who deliver. Today, it is possible to have shipped those food items that are otherwise difficult to obtain locally. Bon Appetit!

[DrKMcK1]

08:05 PM on 01/23/2012

I wouldn't watch a show he's on and I couldn't eat the things he makes. My stomach just couldn't do it. However, I do recognize that other people do eat these things and that's okay. Not for nothing folks, but some people have cows, chikens and pigs for pets too. It's just a cultural thing.

[happyphace]

07:54 PM on 01/23/2012

If you ever happen to see Zimmern around, I would suggest you hide your pets.

[Snowflier]

07:52 PM on 01/23/2012

Next time they have him on the show, they should cook up a Cat and a Dog. I bet they are just as tasty as any other critter. The Chinese eat them everyday.

[emann38123]

07:47 PM on 01/23/2012

This sounds more like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies, with Granny cooking up some vittles in the kitchen!

[Andrew Christopher]

07:44 PM on 01/23/2012

he is an idiot. what about some real food

[Robert Brooks]

07:50 PM on 01/23/2012

That is real food in some areas of the country.

[casper48626]

08:27 PM on 01/23/2012

So true Robert Brooks. I can remember eating raccoon as a child, it really wasn't that bad, but you had to make sure to get all of the fat off the meat before cooking. It is no different than eating venison, squirrel, pheasant, goose, duck and any other wild animal. Your grandparents and great-grandparents probably survived on this type of food!

[manapua512k]

07:41 PM on 01/23/2012

I’m one of those who will try anything at least once—just don’t tell me what it is if “exotic”, or not traditional chicken, beef, or pork; and only after consumed or questioned. It’s all about food handling, preparation and acquirement of taste. Have yet to try the likes of raccoon, possum, or snake—may have without knowing.

[Jamie J Perkins]

08:25 PM on 01/23/2012

I agree with that! I will not eat anything beyond the normal at all either
I did learn after i became an adult however that all the years my mother cooked the roast i loved as a kid that only after having it and noticing the familiarity as an adult that it had been venison. She never called it that! My father was an avid hunter which many years of seeing deer hanging skinned my mother knew we would never eat it and chose to just refer to it as roast, I had always belied it was beef for some reason...lol! It is more of a mental issue in my case rather then the taste!

[candy8teen]

07:36 PM on 01/23/2012

I would try any of that but no uncooked clams (YUK)

[basketpam]

07:25 PM on 01/23/2012

I don't know how they prepared "stuffed pig stomach" on the show, I didn't watch it today but in my family a dish which is actually a stuffed pig's stomach, otherwise known as Hog Maw is THE favorite dish of EVERYONE in the family - for GENERATIONS. The well-cleaned maw of the pig is stuffed with cubed potatoes, onions and loose sausage and baked for hours in the oven. THE best thing on the face of the earth. Where I live in western Maryland EVERYONE knows about this dish. In my neck of the woods THIS is the traditional meal for New Year's Day. I had a relative that managed a grocery store for years where they would butcher all sorts of items. I was exposed to all sorts of odd meats. I've had moose, bear, frog legs (yes, it taste like chicken), eel (like fish) (moose and bear were like tough beef). Folks, MANY of the things much of the US citizens consider odd are very good. People today are FAR too ruined by pre-made, pre-packaged food from a box or can that has NO taste and must be loaded with salt or other things to give it any flavor. Americans, you MUST expand your horizons and learn to eat REAL food. Amy needs to start eating like an adult and not a child. My neice and nephew were eating "pig stomach" and LOVING it by the time they were 2. They put her to shame.