Television series
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
- Treasure hunt
- Light-hearted
- Dip in and out
Andrew Zimmern travels the globe eating whatever the locals eat, no flinching allowed, from insect larvae to fermented shark. It's less about shock than context — every stomach-testing bite comes wrapped in market stalls, family kitchens and a genuine curiosity about why people eat what they eat. Loud, grinning, oddly educational.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like watching a host eat his way into a place, where the real pleasure is the market stalls, the cooks' hands and the mild shock of a dish you'd never order at home.
Skip it if you want a tight narrative or sharp food criticism; episodes are loosely structured, and the eating-on-camera rhythm can feel repetitive across twenty seasons.
What it asks of you: Each hour-long episode runs at a relaxed, wandering pace, so you settle in for a single city or region and let the sampling unfold at its own speed.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations2005
Bourdain did the globe-trotting-eater thing first and with more literary swagger, treating street food as a way into politics, history and grief. Sharper writing, same restless hunger.
But Bourdain's cynicism and melancholy cut deeper than Zimmern's cheerful crunch-and-grin approach — different emotional register entirely.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown2013
The mature, cinematic version of the travel-food show — gorgeous photography, real political weight, and Bourdain increasingly using meals as an excuse to talk about everything else.
But Slower and sadder than Bizarre Foods; less about the food's shock value, more about what it means. Knowing how it ends colors every episode.
Somebody Feed Phil2018
Phil Rosenthal is Zimmern's goofier, softer cousin — same delight in discovery, none of the machismo about eating scary things. Pure joy, family-friendly, genuinely funny.
But Almost no bizarre food at all — this is comfort-watch travel TV, not an endurance test for your palate.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Tampopo1985
Same reverence for food-as-culture and the theatrical act of eating, but told as absurdist cinema instead of a host narrating his own dares.
A Japanese comedy about the sacred, ridiculous seriousness of ramen-making — food as obsession, performance and near-religious ritual, told with total comic straight-facedness.
But It's fiction, subtitled, and structured like a series of surreal sketches rather than a travelogue — a real tonal leap from reality TV.
More like this (6)
No Passport Required2018
Chef Marcus Samuelsson explores immigrant communities within American cities, finding the whole world's cuisines a few blocks from home. Warm, specific, unexpectedly moving.
But Domestic focus means less exotic novelty and more neighborhood intimacy — a different kind of curiosity.
Ugly Delicious2018
David Chang turns single dishes — fried rice, pizza, tacos — into arguments about authenticity, immigration and taste. More debate than dare, but just as hungry.
But Talky and essayistic rather than adventurous; you're watching chefs argue over dinner, not Zimmern eating a scorpion.
Man v. Food2008
Pure American excess — competitive eating challenges and mountain-sized portions. If Zimmern's your gateway drug for gross-out food TV, this is the trashier chaser.
But No cultural curiosity here, just quantity and heartburn. Repetitive format, thin on the anthropology Zimmern actually cares about.
The Mind of a Chef2012
A more technical, chef's-eye companion piece — narrated by Bourdain, focused on the craft and science behind dishes rather than the traveler's shock and awe.
But Cerebral and slower-paced; it's about technique and ideas, not stomach-churning dares.
The Gleaners and I2000
Both are driven by a stranger's curiosity about overlooked food sources, but Varda trades Zimmern's showmanship for quiet, humane attention.
Agnès Varda's essay-documentary follows people who scavenge discarded food across France, turning waste and hunger into a meditation on dignity, thrift and looking closely at the world.
But No exotic markets, no host bravado, no grins to camera — it's slow, personal, and philosophical rather than adventurous.
Rotten2018
Trades Zimmern's globe-trotting appetite for a darker genre — true-crime style investigation into where food actually comes from and who it hurts.
An investigative documentary series that follows food supply chains into corruption, fraud and exploitation — the honey, garlic and peanut industries get genuinely unsettling exposés.
But There's no fun bite-and-grin here; it's muckraking journalism that will make you paranoid about your pantry, not curious about your palate.
People
Cast
Writing
- Andrew ZimmernCreator
Recommended by
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Man v. Food, Carnival Eats, United States of Bacon