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Tanzania
By Andrew Zimmern on April 14, 2009 12:00 PM | Permalink | 25 Comments
Anyone looking for a once in a lifetime experience would be well advised to make a run out to the Ngorogoro Crater National Park in Tanzania. We hit the road a few months back to make one of the last episodes of Bizarre Foods and my expectations were high to begin with, but our Tanzania sojourn far exceeded my wildest dreams.
We landed in Tanzania after a crazy airplane journey from halfway around the world that had me sitting on the tarmac for 6 hours in Khartoum in the Sudan. "Please stay away from the windows at all times," said the voice of the flight attendant over the loudspeaker, a chilling reminder that air carriers based in the USA are not welcome sights on some tarmacs, especially in Northeastern Africa. Anyway, I ended up not getting shot at and spent the rest of the day flying into Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, shooting there for a week, flying to Kampala, Uganda, shooting there for a week and then moving on to Tanzania. We were tired, and we all missed home, and 3-week, 3-show shoots in third world countries are the hardest trips imaginable. There are no days off, no time off and endless days of shooting and living in some very harsh conditions. I love it.
But boy was I psyched to land in the relative peace and quiet of Arusha, and overnight in an actual hotel after crawling out of the Uganda jungle on fumes. There was a lot of great storytelling to be had in Tanzania but we eschewed all of them in favor of spending the majority of our time living in a tent city on the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater, living and hanging with the Massai and watching the great migrations of exotic African animals parade along the crater floor.
The crater itself is steep and impenetrable except for several cut outs through which the animals migrate. The hills around the crater are thousands of feet high, cold and damp and windy up top, warm and humid on the crater floor. Savannah below, forested temperate jungle above. We spent our first few days in the crater, standing next to an endless parade of zebra, warthog, wildebeest, lion, hippo, elephant, orangutan, assorted monkeys, birds, snakes, lizards and every other animal you can imagine.
The rest of the time we spent chilling with Edward Ngobi and his tribe. These are not the Disney version of the Massai, this was the real thing. Up early in the morning, tend the herds, release the herd from the corrals, repair the things in the village that need fixing, hunt, collect wood, corral the animals and eat dinner. We beaded with the womenfolk, weaned goats with the men and got plenty of warrior training in on the side. Remember these are the guys who kill lions with spears and their bare hands and are ritually circumcised at an age when you remember it for the rest of your life. Ouch.
Breakfast was fresh cow's blood, hot millet porridge and 2-week-old sour milk, curdled. Lunch was a reprise of breakfast and dinner was arguably the best BBQ I have ever taken part in or eaten. You see for as unimaginative as a Massai breakfast cook is, the guys who cook dinner really know how to bring it in the kitchen. The recipe? Butcher one goat, one lamb and one cow. Save the skin for tanning into leather and making their world-famous beds. Save the blood, bones and tendons for other uses. Eat the liver and kidneys raw. Skewer all the primal cuts on green sticks and grill it all over a white hot bed of mountain hardwood coals, squat, slice and serve, charred rare.
So I have spent the last 6 months trying to pitch the idea of an all-you-can-eat, kill your own, Massai-style whole animal BBQ chain. Anyone else but me think this is an idea long overdue? A carnivore's IHOP for the 21st Century? You betcha!
25 Comments
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Sopa!
My step-dad's a Maasai from Ngorongoro. Lives in Mombasa, Kenya now with my mom. Killed his first lion when he was 10. It was an accident, but the tribe thought he was very fierce.
Looking forward to the episode!
When you open your first "MeatDonald's," send me an email and I'll be your first customer.
OMG, love to watch your program, sometimes over and over the same one, but poor thing, you deserve an awesome welcome home, after you go through all that, wish you the best. And I will be in from of my t.v. again.lol
Love your show - sometimes you make me want to gag as I am sure you want to sometimes. Just watched your Ethiopia episode - aren't you afraid of getting parasites - I mean seriously?
I love the way you present your food. I am willing to try anything for the most part, but some of the stuff.. is a little beyond me.. at least sober ;) but .. I like how you make some of the most "queer" food look so tasty! That is definitely a unique talent. When are you going to India or have you been?
Great show Tanzania show tonight. I hope you open your "carnivore's IHOP" right here in Meateapolis, errrr Minneapolis!! Can't wait until nest week!
Andrew, You Da Man !! Your culinary courage and daring surpass those of anyone I have ever seen. This was again amply demonstrated during your stay with the Maasai in Tanzania. Fascinating food culture there ! Hey it's great to see you begin another season, and I like the line-up of places on upcoming episodes. As a frequent traveler to Asia myself, I am really looking forward to the South Korea and Singapore episodes. Singapore! What a great food town ! Andrew you have quickly become the workhorse of the Travel Channel. I think you must be the most prolific producer of material for them, and I watch your shows over and over again to get ideas for future trips and for new foods to try. You were the one who inspired me to visit the D'Jemaa el Fna in Marrakesh, when I traveled to Morocco last August, and I loved the amazing and frenetic food scene there. Even though you have only been on the TC for a few seasons, it would be hard now to imagine the Travel Channel without you. Keep up the fabulous work. Try to work in a future trip to Indonesia some day. You can't let Bourdain be the only one to chow down in that gorgeous and fascinating nation. He was there in 2006, and a lot is happening in that country. Plus, he only visited Jakarta, West Java and Bali....barely scratching the surface of the huge island nation. Happy future travels Andrew, and All the best to you!
I love watching your show. I think it would be really interesting going around the world and trying different cultural food. I just have one question. Have you ever gotten sick from eating some the weird food?
I love Andrew for visiting this country and revealing some of the culture their. I am an American who lived in Tanzaniza for six months. He is a great guy.
Interesting and fun show last night. A little over the top with blood and more blood. But then again that's why it's Bizarre Foods!!
How do you keep from getting parasites and other food realted problems?
I think that a carnihop might make it in the right location.
You have the best job in the world, go to other countries and eat food.
Great show last night! I have seen every episode of Bizarre Foods, most numerous times, and I always make sure I am home when a new season starts.
hey andrew why don`t you go to honduras sometime
I LOVE your show!! I watch it every chance i can flip the tv to the travel channel!! Im from Massachusetts and to see some of these things, like that chowder you had with the "cream sauce" with your Dad HAHA!! That was incredible and the smoked raw lobster mmm. But anyway, on this episode as you started trying out all the different bloods i was sooo grossed out by the "blood clots" and the little boy just ate the WHOLE STICK OF IT oh gosh i was dying when i saw that. Haha but you're a champ and you drank down all those bloods and even dribbled down your chin and onto your jacket I was like "can't someone get him a wet wipe?!!" Anway I love the show and hopefully some day they can find something 'bizarre' where i live =)
A fun episode and a great start to the latest season.
The travels in Tanzania were especially enthralling because they reminded me of the book that started me on my own culinary expeditions -- Weston A. Price's "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration". The Maasai and Samburu tribes, along with the Inuit of Canada, were his primary examples of peoples who consumed very little in the way of plant matter but remained in robust physical health. His description of the Maasai blood-letting (the tiny arrow, the gourd, the whipping into a clot) matched EXACTLY with the scene from your show.
Love your enthusiam for food and travel, love that you don't give a fake "MMM... Yummo!" when the intestines are undercooked (or the lamprey is dry, or the potted hare tastes completely of iron, or the fish roe is fried to a silica gel consistency...). Looking forward to Korea.
I watched the show on 4/15, I think Andrew was in Ethiopia and they were making something that looked like popcorn but didn't catch the name? Can anyone tell me what that was? Great show.
Dear Andrew,
I am a ELL Social Studies teacher from Illinois and because of your show, most of my students are hooked on learning about different countries and their customs. My students come every Wednesday after seeing your show and say "Ms. B did you watch the show?"
During class we make comments on how other people eat different things and they express if they would like to try the food or if it looked "disgusting" as they say.
We are all learning all about Africa and I Can see how interested they are about learning about other cultures. It's amazing how they will remember the information.
To my surprise this week the show was on Tanzania. Not only they learned about what they eat, but they were able to make connections about the type of weather they have, the landforms, the ethnic groups we have talked about, their languages, and how the people live, dress, get their food, work etc.
My only wish now is that I could tape the shows so I can show the most interesting parts to my students. English Language Learners (ELL) benefit greatly from first hand information in this case a T.V. Show that shows the unusual foods other people eat! So I my limited Swahili I just want to say Asante! for helping me make learning fun and memorable!
P.S. I got hooked on watching you show when for some weird reason I came to flip the channel and I heard the word Colombia, which is where I am from since then, I have to sit and watch your show every Tuesday evening!
I was in China last summer and tried some things that would be fit for your show. Scorpions, Worms, Anteater...just to name a few.
I saw your episode in Guangzhou and it brings back memories...will definitely be going back in the new year, top gear there!
You're all unhumans! Shamed on you of what you're doing!
No respect to animals, loved using them on a bad way. You all, are the reason why the world is so badly damaged, sick and now becomes empty! The biggest reasons of Global Warming is not driving cars but eating animals! Be Veg, Go Green and Save Our Planet! Think on your childrens children not only on yourself!
Andrew I love your show! It is so entertaining and I learn so much each an everytime. Hire ME!! :)
You should go to Micronesia.
You are one crazy geek,...man.... You are going to (if you haven't already) consume a parasite that is going to do you MUCH damage and that you won't be able to get rid of... then you will wonder if it was all worth it. I believe not. If you don't have your health, you don't have sh*t.
I would like to know what the kernels the popcorn was made from in this episode.
Andrew,
The episode was OK but you gave the impression that the Maasai consume large quantities of meat. Fact is that the animals are valued more for the milk and blood than actual meat. Animals are slaughtered occasionally at best. Also, the white ants you describe in the Ugandan episode are actually juvenile termites.
Good job.
Andrew, You are AWESOME DUDE I love your show , P.S GO TO HONDURAS