Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs, and Blood Sausage

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About Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World Of

Product Description Have you ever thought about eating giant flying ants? Or raw camel kidneys? Well, read on to watch Andrew Zimmern not only eat these unique and gross foods, but live to tell the tale about the people, places, and adventures he's had while roaming the world in search of new and exciting meals. Zimmern takes readers from country to country, visiting local markets, participating in cultural feasts, and chasing down native wildlife to taste what each country has to offer, and discovering what is most authentic about each place he visits and the amazing information he receives while traveling to these countries. And you can too! Come along on Andrew's amazing adventures and learn fun facts about the animals he encounters, the people he meets, and the places he explores. You'll also find cool recipes to try at home. So let Andrew Zimmern be your guide as he takes you around the world, eating his way through foods one couldn't even dream of eating, while celebrating the undiscovered destinations and weird wonders still taking place today. From the Hardcover edition. About the Author ANDREW ZIMMERN is a food writer, dining critic, and chef, and the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World. Zimmern is the founder and editor in chief of www.andrewzimmern.com, and he writes monthly for Delta's Sky magazine and Minneapolis St. Paul magazine. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and son. From the Hardcover edition. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Modern-Day Vikings: Puffin Hunting in the Land of Fire and Ice Iceland looks and feels like no other place on earth. As our plane touched down just outside Reykjavik, I was almost convinced we’d landed on the moon. Not surprising, given that NASA astronauts trained in Iceland prior to the first moon landing. In much of the country, the barren, rocky topography looks otherworldly. Iceland, which is roughly the size of Ohio, is a glacial, rocky, moss-covered expanse born from volcanic eruptions. Treeless mountains, sweeping fields of arctic grasses waving out to the horizon, awe-inspiring geysers, raging rivers, spectacular ocean vistas, and therapeutic hot springs fueled by underwater volcanoes are stunning but make much of the island uninhabitable. Iceland is called the Land of Fire and Ice, yet despite its staggering natural beauty, the overwhelming majority of the population lives in the capital city of Reykjavik. Everyone else is a farmer or works in either the thermal energy business (booming) or the greenhouse-gardening industry (emerging).  * Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital city and is home to two-thirds of Iceland’s total population of about 320,000 people. * Iceland’s name implies that the weather is freezing, but that’s not the case. Summer temps rarely hit the sixty-degree mark, but the winters are surprisingly mild--the average temperature in January is 32°F. * The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the arctic fox, which came to the island at the end of the last ice age, walking over the frozen sea. There are no native reptiles or amphibians on the island.  The country is changing and growing all the time--literally. In 1963, a volcanic explosion just off the southern coast of Iceland created an island that eventually expanded to one square mile in size. This landmass, named Surtsey after Surtur, the Icelandic fire god, grew to this official landmass status in only three and a half years. I was fortunate enough to travel to Surtsey by boat one day. It’s a phenomenal thing to see, an island that is as big as it is, that is as new as it is, and freakishly almost exactly as old as I am. I knew the food in Iceland would be wonderful. As a chef in New York and Minneapolis, I’d always been floored by the quality of the Icelandic lamb, dairy products, and seafood I’d run across from time to time