Bizarre Food’s Andrew Zimmern Speaks at The Austin Hilton

Chocolate Scorpion

You’ve seen him on The Travel Channel in his quest to eat bizarre and unusual food choices. Deep fried scorpions, Cobra penises, 18-inch sandworms, rats on skewers, etc. This is one of those shows that makes one literally squirm. But it has a legion of dedicated fans who fall all over themselves attempting to outdo Andrew in their bizarre choices.

The truth of the matter is that a lot of the foods that Andrew tracks down were eaten on a much more regular basis 150 years ago. Take animal meats for example: many more people consumed organ meat than muscle meat. Why? Because organ meat was so much more inexpensive. As far as fried scorpions or tarantulas go, let’s write that off to the lack of a serious middle class in the rain forests of Brazil.

Frankly, the closest I’d come to eating a fried scorpion is the chocolate one shown in the picture created by Finn and Porter pastry chef Ed Schultz!