A look at Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern- Philippines
Bizarre Foods- Philippines. Prod. Shannonn Demers. Perf. Andrew Zimmern. DMAX, 2007. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1OIx-YDbA>.
"Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" is a long running Travel Channel food tourism show. The gist of the show is that the host, Zimmern, travels the world trying the "strangest" food found in that culture. Typically, one episode spotlights one country and various delicacies found throughout. While being an agent of cultural learning, it does so through the lens of western superiority. To exemplify these issues, I will analyze the episode set in the Philippines. It starts with the host trying Balut (a dish previously discussed) for the first time (from 3:15-8:50). Zimmern, a white American male, speaks over the balut workers with a forced measure of authority about a food he had never had before. While he is the host of the show, it comes across as a person speaking on a subject he does not know about, despite there being people in the room that are experts on it. It gives the sense that the American has more authority on the subject purely by virtue of being an American. Throughout the episode, Zimmern expresses this cultural power in many ways, from grabbing at items from a food vendor's stall, to talking about how "weird" a food is directly to the person making it. Another scene that exemplifies this, is the ice cream bun scene (14:07-15:31). This short segment depicts him getting an purple yam and cheese flavored ice cream served onto a hamburger bun. He does not like it, and also buys one and gives it to a seemingly random man on the street. This man is put on the spot, and while saying he likes it, is juxtaposed to Zimmern, who thought it was odd. This creates the sense that the ice cream, and further the people who like it, are wrong, as it conflicts with western standards of ice cream.
Throughout this episode, Zimmern speaks about finding the authentic cuisine of the Philippines. He mentions, in passing, that many of the dishes that are considered traditional are due to the history of colonization that the country faced. These changes he ascribes as being inherently part of the “true” Filipino food, though they work to contribute to otherness of the cuisine. As Casey Kelly writes in his article, Bizarre Foods: White Privilege and the Neocolonial Palate, “ because the Other must be rendered exotic enough to be considered authentically cultural, especially when contrasted with the blank slate of whiteness, Bizarre Foods ultimately reinforces the difference between self and Other”(Kelly, 45). The quest of looking for authentic, “strange” food as a novelty, only furthers the distinction of another culture as other. It reinforces the idea that the western way of life is the superior one, and that it’s food culture should be standard.
Bibliogrpahy:
Bizarre Foods- Philippines. Prod. Shannonn Demers. Perf. Andrew Zimmern. DMAX, 2007. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1OIx-YDbA>.
Kelly, Casey R. "Bizarre Foods: White Privilege and the Neocolonial Palate." Race and Hegemonic Struggle in the United States: Pop Culture, Politics, and Protest. Ed. Michael G. Lacy and Mary E. Triece. N.p.: n.p., 2014. 43-68. Print.