TikTok Is Shocked Andrew Zimmern Is Eating A Classic Food For The First Time
Andrew Zimmern has made a career for himself indulging in foods many of his viewers likely haven't tried. As the co-creator and host of "Bizarre Foods," Zimmern has explored unique dishes from across the globe. Although these have included live worms, rodents, and reptiles, per the Travel Channel episode guide, the American chef told AsiaLIFE Magazine that those things are "actually the least important part of what we do" (via YouTube). He said that the show is less about "what divides us" and more about "food ... the great commonality."
In the series, Zimmern highlighted those commonalities found globally. Universal dishes covered in these episodes include noodles in Beijing and Italy (per Cooking Channel) to a "world tour" of the sandwich landscape in Chicago, Paris, and Miami (via IMDb). Zimmern has also explored street foods of the fried and skewered variety like fried pickles and chocolate at the Minnesota State Fair.
Although once described by the Travel Channel as its "resident adventurous eater," Zimmern returned to The Great Minnesota Get-Together and left TikTok users in shock when he revealed was eating a classic deep-fried food for the first time.
It's not the Pronto Pup
In a TikTok video, Andrew Zimmern offered a side-by-side comparison of two popular American foods-on-a-stick: the Pronto Pup, which boasts a pancake-like batter, and the corn dog, whose coating was described as more corn muffin-like. Both have their origins in American history tracing back to the early 1920s, according to Bar-S. Yet Zimmern admitted to this being his "first corn dog ever," and TikTok users were in disbelief. Seemingly in complete shock, user Justin Smith asked, "Wait a minute, first corn dog ever????" User uncle jerry wrote that they were "shook" to learn it was his first time eating the food, and Alexis Miller862 wasn't convinced that Zimmern had never tried corn dogs before.
After taking just one bite into each battered dog, Zimmern was drawn to the corn dog's crunchy exterior and "nice ratio of batter to dog" compared to the Pronto Pup's but crunch-less "slightly sweet" batter. He hails the corn dog as the winner. However, Zimmern quickly moves on to declare "Nancy's footlongs" as the true winner of the state fair, referring to the Carnes and Nelson street food stand, according to his Fair Food Guide.
Zimmern's love of the standard fare has been in front of us for a while. In a 2018 tweet, he stated that when it comes to the state fair, "I keep coming back for the classics." Though, some of those classics may be new to him.