Andrew Zimmern

For Andrew Zimmern, host of ‘Bizarre Foods,’ taste is relative.?Enlarge The Travel Channel In the Philippines: Andrew Zimmern samples uok (coconut worm) at Balaw Balaw Restaurant. Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook What’s this? By Jayne Clark, USA TODAY WASHINGTON Here’s the thing about bizarre foods, says Andrew Zimmern, a former chef who has made a franchise out of dining on unimaginables such as cow vein stew, donkey skin and freeze-dried rotten potatoes. “One man’s weird is another man’s wonderful,” he says. “Just try explaining individually wrapped Kraft cheese singles to an African desert nomad.” Sitting at a front table in a cozy wood-paneled classic French restaurant here, the host of Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern presses a forkful of calves brains to his lips and considers. He has just returned from Samoa, where he foraged for grubs on a deserted island while filming a segment for the second season of his Travel Channel show. As he eats, he relates some of the spicier bits in that matter-of-fact way you’d mention a trip to the mall or a day on the golf course. He was with some Samoans roasting bats over an open fire, he says. They’re hunkered over the flames, tearing at 5-pound bats with their teeth. It’s visceral and gritty, and they’re using leaves for plates. And the guy next to him turns and says, “I’m surprised you’re doing your show here. We really don’t eat that many weird foods down here.”