Well, we found a winner to represent us in the Six Taste Bizarre Food Challenge. It’s a shame we could only pick one person but they might be offering the challenge again in the future if there’s enough interest so if you’d like to purchase tickets check out their site and get on their mailing list. “My dad is Chinese from Hong Kong, and my mom is a southern belle from Georgia. I grew up eating frogs legs, chicken feet, and thousand year old egg, as well as scrapple and grits.  My backgrounds definitely gave me a taste for adventure. I have traveled around the world eating bizarre foods, including, among others (1) tarantula in Cambodia, (2) grasshopper tacos in Mexico and Washington D.C., (3) ant larvae in Mexico City, (3) veal brains at the French Laundry in Napa, (4) jellyfish in Hong Kong, and (5) snails in Portugal, Spain, and France.Â
“A few years ago I took a trip to Vietnam where I ate an entire snake in a small village outside of Hanoi. When I arrived at the restaurant, I was directed to a large cage of live snakes where I was asked to pick out my dinner. Then they took the live snake inside, drained its blood into a carafe of wine, and pulled out the snake’s still-beating heart to be swallowed whole along with a glass of snake blood wine. Following this aperitif, I was fed an eight course meal of snake soup, snake stir fried with vegetables, fried snake skin, snake fried rice, snake bone congee, snake eggrolls, etc.Â
“Although I am slight (a mere 5 feet, two inches, and 105 pounds), I can also eat a lot. I have been known in my group of friends to eat two dinners in a row. Accordingly, I am confident that I could clean my plate at every station at the Bizarre Food Challenge.”Â
Again, it’s absolutely criminal that we could only choose one person because we think you guys are all winners. And by winners I mean people I won’t be joining for dinner, with all due respect. ;) Anyhow, our first runner up was MOST definitely Scott Cowin, who was really inches from winning and apparently travels in the same circles as Courtney. Seem both Courtney and Scott have visited the exact same restaurant in the snake village mentioned above. Scott had plenty of video evidence of the experience… including drinking COBRA VENOM! (Oh my God. If you had a cut in your mouth and that got into your bloodstream, wouldn’t that be kinda bad? Geez.)
View Scott’s video and thumbnails of other contestant photo submissions below… just click on the thumbnails for the full experience. :)
“Andrew is in Northern Vietnam sampling the cuisine and sharing stories and legends of the region connected to the dishes he tries. In Le Mat village, he is offered topick the snake he wants to eat, but it picks him. Andrew has a blood cocktail and its beating heart among with fried smake skin. His host has the snake’s gall bladder sterilized in drinking alcohol.”
-”Bizarre Foods: Vietnam” Episode Guide…
Oh you think so? Well our other contestant Scott filmed it. And we saw it. And we’re not going to post it here because we don’t want PETA on our backs. I’ll e-mail it to you though.
I was there for the tarantula’s in Cambodia, she not only ate it but seemed to enjoy it. I also know the other two who were with her in Vietnam, if they say it happened, it happened. Who would make this stuff up?
I hate spiders so much… that tarantula looks HORRRRIBLE!!!!