The Bizarre Truth: Culinary Misadventures Around the Globe

By Andrew Zimmern

Book Overview

Andrew Zimmern, the host of The Travel Channel's hit series Bizarre Foods, has an extraordinarily well-earned reputation for traveling far and wide to seek out and sample anything and everything that's consumed as food globally, from cow vein stew in Bolivia and giant flying ants in Uganda to raw camel kidneys in Ethiopia, putrefied shark in blood pudding in Iceland and Wolfgang Puck's Hunan style rooster balls in Los Angeles. For Zimmern, local cuisine--bizarre, gross or downright stomach turning as it may be to us--is not simply what's served at mealtime. It is a primary avenue to discovering what is most authentic--the bizarre truth--about cultures everywhere. Having eaten his way around the world over the course of four seasons of Bizarre Foods, Zimmern has now launched Bizarre Worlds, a new series on the Travel Channel, and this, his first book, a chronicle of his journeys as he not only tastes the "taboo treats" of the world, but delves deep into the cultures and lifestyles of far-flung locales and seeks the most prized of the modern traveler's goals: The Authentic Experience. Written in the smart, often hilarious voice he uses to narrate his TV shows, Zimmern uses his adventures in "culinary anthropology" to illustrate such themes as: why visiting local markets can reveal more about destinations than museums; the importance of going to "the last stop on the subway"--the most remote area of a place where its essence is most often revealed; the need to seek out and catalog "the last bottle of coca-cola in the desert," i.e. disappearing foods and cultures; the profound differences between dining and eating; and the pleasures of snout to tail, local, fresh and organic food. Zimmern takes readers into the back of a souk in Morocco where locals are eating a whole roasted lamb; along with a conch fisherman in Tobago, who may be the last of his kind; to Mississippi, where he dines on raccoon and possum. There, he writes, "People said, 'That's roadkill ' 'No it's not, ' I said. 'It's a cultural story.'"

Whether it's a session with an Incan witch doctor in Ecuador who blows fire on him, spits on him, thrashes him with poisonous branches and beats him with a live guinea pig or drinking blood in Uganda and cow urine tonic in India or eating roasted bats on an uninhabited island in Samoa, Zimmern cheerfully celebrates the undiscovered destinations and weird wonders still remaining in our increasingly globalized world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767931300
• ISBN13: 9780767931304
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Review of The Bizarre Truth

Fun book! I've watched Andrew Zimmern in Bizarre Foods before and most of the time was really grossed out by what he was eating. Thank goodness he wrote this book! I really came to appreciate how he approaches travel, and appreciate the reasoning behind why people eat all those truly unique and strange foods. I think my favorite stories were in Iceland - and that's what started out the book. I never thought I'd be wanting to visit Iceland, but he definitely stirred the interest! He really connected with people and I admire and respect his way of thinking when it comes to eating some of the strange offerings given to him. Some of those folks are so poor, they are offering up a larger portion of food than their own, and who are we to turn that down when it's offered so freely. Kudos on an interesting book - great way to see travel and now I'm inspired to go traveling and exploring.. mouth first.

good service

The books were wrapped up very securely and they didn't get wet even though it rained outside.

Highly recommended, especially to fans of the television show

Written by the host of the Travel Channel's popular series "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern", The Bizarre Truth: How I Walked Out the Door Mouth First... and Came Back Shaking My Head is an enjoyable travelogue of Zimmern's many cultural and culinary adventures filming the show. From the plight of vanishing foods and cultures subsumed by mainstream globalization, to a session with an Incan witch doctor in Ecuador who blows fire on him, to dining on roasted bats on a Samoan Island, to eating raccoon and opossum in Mississippi, The Bizarre Truth is a chronicle of adventure, strange and wonderful palate delights (or distresses), and above all, an open-minded appreciation of the myriad ways mankind has adapted his diet and his way of life to his environment. Highly recommended, especially to fans of the television show.

Promoting Cultural Understanding Through Food

I'm a great fan of Andrew's television show Bizarre Foods and this book is a great companion to the show. Andrew is his ever charming, funny and lively self as he takes us through food and cultural adventures from Uganda to Iceland. Andrew's most memorable experiences come not just from food but through sharing cultural experiences via food. Here he gives us details of some of his most emotionally charged moments on the cultural food trail. Particularly moving is his description of the trance state entered by the bushmen of the Kalihari as they lay hands on Andrew and bring him into contact with a deep part of his soul. Also interesting are the moments of great danger that Andrew puts himself in on his adventures, something not seen on the show. Not all the food encountered in the book is of the bizarre kind. There is a memorable chapter where Andrew eats his way through the gastronomic delights of Paris. One segment in the book did bother me greatly and it didn't involve yucky food. Andrew visits a healer in Ecuador where he is instructed to bring along a live guinea pig. As part of the ceremony the healer beats the guinea pig to death against Andrew's body. While I accept many moments of animal cruelty in the book realizing most of the people Andrew encounters are very poor and must eat, this episode of gratuitous cruelty was stomach churning and didn't seem to bother Andrew at all. After its death the poor guinea is tossed on a pile of cigarette butts on the floor. Still Andrew's message in the show as well as in the book is that through food sharing comes cultural understanding and respect and caring for one's fellow man. The one question that I've always wanted to know, however, was not answered in the book. Has Andrew ever become ill after eating some of these crazy foods?

AMAZING WORK! Write us Another one!

This is a great Book. Andrew takes you behind the scenes on his illustrious adventures. Highly descriptive and well-written, you can feel the crash of the ocean waves, the smells of the food, and the adventure that these cultures and great author bring forward. Witty, insightful, and observant, Zimmern is an exceptional Travel author. Write more! Bring us another one Andrew, before these cultures and lifeways disappear. - Omar W. Rosales Author, "Elemental Shaman" http://www.elementalshaman.com Elemental Shaman: One Man's Journey Into the Heart of Humanity, Spirituality & Ecology