For Andrew Zimmern, host of the TV show Bizarre Foods, no food is too weird. In this book, he explores foods from around the world that might seem unusual to eat, such as alligator meat, brains, cockroaches, dung beetles, garlic ice cream, haggis, liver, octopus, rabbit, stuffed lamb spleen, turducken, and many others. He discusses the benefits, or lack of benefits, from each food, but then expands the information with recipes, photos, related trivia about the area it comes from; famous sayings related to the food, the area it comes from, or other fun trivia.

This book is a great way to get kids reading nonfiction. Kids will be delighted with the trivia, both the gross facts and the other fun facts that Zimmern collected in this book. The pictures and sidebars break up the information so that it doesn’t ever get too gross or too boring. Because each chapter has different kinds of trivia and information, readers learn a lot not just about food but also about culture, geography, history, vocabulary, and art. The illustrations and pictures also help break up the words to keep things entertaining for young readers. Even reluctant readers can enjoy this laugh-out-loud look at the interesting foods that are eaten all over the world. ( )

I LOVE Andrew Zimmern and his TV show on Travel Channel. If I could have any job besides being a teacher, I would probably choose to travel the world and eat as much weird food as possible. This book compiles various different foods and facts about them into one, relatively small package. The book discusses odd eats like Alligator and Wildebeest. The main idea of the text is food and the science and history behind it. In just the first chapter about Alligators one learns about; the meat, jaws, and attacks. A section on the Gatorade sports drink is also included. I see this book being the favorite of many curious 3rd-5th graders and even middle-high schoolers. I learned so much about food, maybe a little too much. This book inspired me to try something new and different this summer when I go on vacation. ( )

Recommended Ages: Gr. 5-10

Plot Summary:
Alligator - US
Bird's Nest Soup - China and other parts of Asia
Brains - Thailand and West Virginia
Chitlins - Southern US
Circus peanuts - US
Cockroaches - Asia
Cow's Blood - Tanzania
Crayfish - Southern US
Cuy (Guinea pig) - South America
Dancing Shrimp - Thailand
Donkey - Namibia, Nigeria, Sardinia (Italy), China
Dung Beetles - Laos and Thailand
Durian - Asia, really stinky and poisonous fruit
Fish Head Curry - Singapore and Malaysia
Fugu (Puffer Fish) - Japan
Garlic Ice Cream - America
Giant Fruit Bats - Asia, Australia, Indonesia, East African islands
Grasshoppers - all over the world
Haggis - Samoa, Uganda, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Chile, Belize, Argentina, US (Navajo)
Headcheese - all over the world
Hot Dogs - US
Juicy Lucy - Midwest US (cheeseburger)
Kopi Lowak - Indonesia (coffee)
Liver - all of the world
Lutefisk - Scandinavia (gelatinous fish goo)
Maggot Cheese - Italy, France, Germany, Nicaragua
Octopus, live - Korea
Ox Heart - not listed
Rabbit - Americas, Europe, Middle East
Rat - all over the world
Scapple - US (pig parts made into a meatloaf
Sour Lung Soup - Germany
Spam - US and Asia
Squid Ink - Mediterranean countries
Stuffed Lamb Spleen - Middle East and North Africa
Tarantulas - Southeast ly-Asia
Tongue - all over the world
Turducken - US
Twinkies - US
Wildebeest - Africa

Setting: all over the world

Recurring Themes: travel, foods, culture, customs, history, pop culture, normal

Controversial Issues:
pg 55-56 refers to donkeys as asses twice
pg 109 - refers to show Jackass with Johnny Knoxville
pg 154 - talks about famous brewery in Germany

Personal Thoughts: It took me forever to get through this book. After a quick introduction to each food, there were plenty of of only somewhat related information boxes. For example, in the chapter on cow's blood, there is a list of the four bloodiest movies. In the chapter about giant bats, there is a whole page with famous baseball players. This book is ok to browse and would be ok for reluctant readers who don't want anything in depth. It's almost like the book has ADHD and can't stay on the topic. A few recipes are included.

Genre: informational text, humor, reluctant reader

Pacing: slow to read from beginning to end, better to browse, lots of sidebars and notes, not a whole lot of detail about the actual food
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Illustrations: Printed with black and red ink only, the photos are in black and white. The red is used in illustrations or for page design.

Includes index and table of contents. ( )