Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern - Season 15

Fresh bull testicle ceviche and possum Sunday dinner in Guatemala where ancient flavors are still alive.

Andrew heads to Croatia, an Eastern European kingdom straight out of a storybook. An up-and-coming tourist hotspot, Andrew still finds ancient tastes from roasted dormice and giant offal kebabs to baked rooster and grilled frog.

Andrew goes to one of the world's culinary capitals, Paris, France. He feasts on mushrooms harvested in underground caves, brines ham delivered to the presidential palace, and learns the dying art of aging artisanal French cheese.

Andrew travels to Philadelphia, a city built on doing things their way - especially when it comes to food! From cheese-steak and shad cake to turkey neck and pig liver, Andrew discovers the secret to a good bite is Philly pride.

Andrew goes south of the border, and seemingly back in time, to Oaxaca, Mexico. Tastes and traditions from prehistoric times influence every bite as recipes thousands of generations old still reign supreme. From roasted winged ants and grasshopper trail mix to grilled intestines and superheated rock soup, Andrew discovers why Oaxaca is hailed as Mexico's culinary capital. Andrew's first stop on his edible tour finds him in the rugged farmlands north of Oaxaca City. Local guide Maria Itaka introduces Andrew to a family who still celebrates indigenous foodways - cooking, speaking and hunting the way their ancestors did - including catching chicatanas, or winged ants! The family invites Andrew to their home for a one-of-a-kind experience watching grandmother hand down treasured family recipes to grandmother, resulting in a simple but beautiful meal of chicatana-filled tortillas. With uncomplicated, mind-blowing cooked black beans on the side, this is a meal Andrew will never forget. Next, Local chef Pilar Cabrera brings Andrew to the tiny town of Reyes Etla, renowned for making the traditional quesillo cheese she features at her restaurant. Pilar, who has been buying cheese in this town all her life, tells Andrew 40% of the people in Reyes Etla produce the cheese! Andrew witnesses firsthand how one family handcrafts the signature round-shaped snack, then samples it in a homemade memela. For a taste of truly prehistoric times, Andrew heads to Cesar Gapuchin's Caldo de Piedra eatery. The restaurant is named after its featured dish, caldo de piedra: a soup made from dropping a superheated rock into a dried gourd filled with raw ingredients - dating back to the years before pottery was even invented! Now a dying art, Cesar takes great pride in keeping the tradition alive, knowing that it sustained his Chinantec ancestors for centuries - and Andrew takes great happiness in eating it! Andrew and Maria go to Tlacolula Market, one of the oldest in North America, where villagers from the surrounding valley have congregated for centuries. Resulting a rich multitude of edible offerings, the market is a prime feeding ground for Andrew, who samples everything from Mesoamerican chocolate and wild cherries to dried beef heart and aged intestines! The real star of the market is the fresh tejate - a dish of ground corn, fermented cacao, mamey seeds, rosita de cacao flowers and toasted pecans, all mixed with ice water - and Andrew and Maria get a special look at just how it's made. Meeting up with some real Zapotec tejateras, Andrew witnesses the 8-hour process of grinding tejate by hand and the sacred tradition behind the latest ladies in the ancient line of making it. Next, Andrew visits the Inalim Company, where Hugo Sandoval and Roberto Perez are exploring ways to harvest Oaxacan grasshoppers and export the underappreciated protein around the world. Andrew tries whole grasshoppers at their peak of freshness, and also baked and tossed in a canola fried mixture of garlic, chili de arbol, and peanuts for a type of "trail mix!" What better way to end a Oaxacan adventure than with celebrated chef Alejandro Ruiz? Alejandro brings Andrew to Abastos Market, where he grew up selling cheese, to shop for his award-winning restaurants, and shows Andrew how his inspiration is created from hundreds of neighborhood recipes. Back at his restaurant Casa Oaxaca, Alejandro whips up grasshopper tacos with quesillo cheese, traditional Oaxacan mole, and seared rabbit legs with chayote. All in all, brilliant combinations of simple flavors cherished by the local people, and transformed into world-class representations of what made Oaxaca what it is today.

Andrew goes across the pond to Amsterdam, an iconic city reinventing traditional Dutch recipes with inspiration from around the globe. With a culture that thrives on nonconformity and a haven for mixed cultures, each dish has a large helping of flair. From pig head terrine and insect-filled nuggets to raw herring and goose meat krokets, Andrew discovers Amsterdam is a place where creativity and innovation are never off limits! Andrew's first stop is Gebroeders Hartering, to meet aspiring painter-turned-chef Paul Hartering. Paul has been utilizing his creative innovation by combining an array of global culinary techniques with Dutch ingredients to create new masterpieces. Paul gives Andrew a behind the scenes look at a few of his signature dishes, including head cheese cooked in a hollowed-out pig's head, and his delectable North Sea squid. With Paul's creative juices spilling over to his presentation, Andrew raves that his dishes truly taste just as good as they look. Killing time while Paul's dishes cook, Andrew meanders though Amsterdam's historic Albert Cuyp Market. The bustling market has been a local institution since 1905, with vendors selling all kinds of Dutch delicacies, from stoopwafels and pofferties to Gouda cheese and lumpia. Andrew witnesses firsthand how the Dutch culture has embraced modernization while still valuing foodways that date back to 200 B.C.! Next, Andrew and Chef Paul hop on Amsterdam's famously favorite form of transportation, bicycles, and find their way to Eetsalon Van Dobben The self proclaimed king of the kroket, Eetsalon produces 200 million scrumptious units produce each year. The 1950s-style diner also offers bitterballen, a round version of the mystery meat-filled kroket, and broodies, the delicious little sandwiches that are a standard Dutch lunch. Andrew and Paul dig in to these classic treats which Andrew likens to "comfort food cement spackle." Andrew ventures north to Volendam, the eel capital of Amsterdam. On his way, Andrew stops by the local street market to devour a raw herring, a traditional snack, usually swallowed in a single bite. Heading to Smit-Bokkum, Andrew meets Jan Smit, a 5th generation eel processor whose family has been in business since 1856. After hitting the Ijsselmeer with the legendary Schilder glass eel-fishing family for a 500-year-old experience that just may end with the current generation, Jan shows Andrew the art of eel auctioning. Back at Jan's smokehouse, the local eels are stomped, sliced and smoked on smoldering pine shavings. The last of a dying breed due to a decline in the eel population, Jan hopes his new lab, whose sole mission to synthetically breed eels in captive, will help save his town and revive the iconic Dutch tradition of eel fishing. For a true taste of Dutch modernization, Andrew buzzes over to Kreca farms, where researchers are investigating innovative ways to rebrand and consume insects. Never one to shy away from creepy crawlers, Andrew taste tests freeze-dried buffalo worms and nuggets made with buffalo worms. Andrew calls the insects good food and advocates that many problems would be solved if mainstream diets were to adopt the protein source. Finally, Andrew meets up with Martijn Van de Reep and Tom Zinger, who are doing their part to hunt a dent in Amsterdam's invasive goose population. After a quick hunting session, the young entrepreneurs bring Andrew to their kitchen at Gebroeders de Wolf for a taste exploration of their experimental takes on classic Dutch recipes using one main ingredient: goose!

Andrew makes a pilgrimage to meat mecca Kansas City, a city known for cattle farms and old-fashioned Americana culture. From jiggly pig snoots and chilled pig spleen to roasted woodchuck and unmatched BBQ, Andrew proves that Kansas City is truly a carnivore's kingdom. Andrew's first stop on a filling journey is none other than the 35-year-old institution, The Tenderloin Grill. Andrew meets Ashlee Ruhl, the owner who saved the family restaurant at just 26 years old! With no other choice, Andrew happily dives, nose first, into the KC-style pig snoot sandwich. A spicy sandwich of boiled pig nose, the dish has become so distinguished even the Kansas City Police Department uses it to initiate rookies to the force! Next on Andrew's excursion is The Local Pig, where Chef Alex Pope reinvents local tradition. After sampling the unique summer sausage, smoked beef heart, and smoked pig's head, Andrew moves on to his nemesis, the pig spleen! The spleen, which has a muddy flavor due to filtering blood, is lined with bacon and sage to neutralize the intense taste. Reinvented with a little texture and "pinwheel" presentation, Alex Pope does something to spleen Andrew never thought possible: makes it enjoyable! After Andrew gets his fill of pig, he heads to visual artist-turned-chef Jonathan Justus's 101-year-old Justus Drugstore. In Jonathan's laboratory, he wows Andrew with "mad scientist" takes on country classics like pear vinegar, dehydrated sweet potato chips and raw bass crudo. Jonathan takes Andrew to Paradise Meat Locker, operated by Mario Fantasma, a butcher shop that creates magical opportunities for Jonathan and other chefs to customize their cuts based on particular breeds of animals. Finally Jonathan invites Andrew to his family farmstead where they cook up a woodchuck trapped in his backyard on... a treadmill rotisserie, of course! The grand finale is a one-of-a-kind family meal where Andrew stuffs himself with rare woodchuck heart, home-made baked beans and pear-cider vinegar cole slaw. Andrew then meets up with James Beard Award-winning chef Celina Tio who is proud to take Andrew on a BBQ crawl around her home turf. Their first stop is iconic Arthur Bryant's, a BBQ joint that still boasts their standard pit ham sandwich and beef sandwich, a slice of America between two buns. With sauce fresh on the face, Andrew and Celina head over to Joe's Kansas City BBQ, an old gas station turned legendary BBQ joint. The constant line is worth the wait for Joe's Z-Man sandwich but the real draw is the burnt ends - a type of BBQ Kansas City proudly claims to have invented. Continuing down the BBQ trail, Andrew investigates Woodyard BBQ, a restaurant still cooking with an ancient smoker and unique array of wood, each creating a pungent taste. To close his time in this carnivore heaven, Andrew can't leave without experiencing a little good-natured Kansas City BBQ competition. To warm up, Andrew puts Q39's guarantee - national championship quality in every bite - to the test, under the watchful eye of restaurant owner and 2-time BBQ champion Rob Magee. The real fun begins when Andrew, with a well-versed BBQ palate, picks up a side gig with the prestigious Kansas City BBQ Society to judge a rib-cooking showdown between veteran Q39 and rookie Redneck BBQ. While only one team can emerge victorious, Andrew realizes eating BBQ - or any other food in this delectable town - is a win-win situation!

Midnight spear fishing in Alaska; eating poisonous vipers in Philadelphia.

Tossing rocks at pigeons to bow fishing carp.