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Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern 100th episode in Las Vegas on Monday, July 9

By April MacIntyre Jul 3, 2012, 16:43 GMT

The series kicks off its sixth season with the 100th episode in Las Vegas on Monday, July 9 at 9pm ET/PT.

Imagine $750 cupcakes with vanilla bean caviar cream, beating frog hearts, intestines of some poor creature or the roe or innards of a fish? Welcome to Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods America” with Andrew Zimmern.

The series kicks off its sixth season with the 100th episode in Las Vegas on Monday, July 9 at 9pm ET/PT.

Video sneak peek here: http://www.media.travelchannel.com/ekit/BFA_TuneIn/index.html

Once again, two-time James Beard Award-winner, Andrew Zimmern ditches his passport to discover that some of the strangest foods and most colorful characters in the world are right here in the good old USA. From traditional foods passed down by immigrants to modern dishes born and bred by American innovation, the US is a melting pot of cultures both exotic and familiar. 

ZFrom Travel Channel

In the 100th episode, Zimmern travels to Las Vegas to uncover why this city is all about extremes – biggest, best, most expensive and elaborate.  From over-the-top-excess including $750 cupcakes, $1,000 sundaes, and a hamburger priced at $5,000, Zimmern goes behind the velvet curtain at some of “Sin City’s” top luxury hotels including the Bellagio and MGM Grand. 

At the Bellagio buffet – feeding 4,000 people a day, armies of people turn out handcrafted perfection in quantity (over 16,000 pastries per day) with a supply of top quality items including 4,000 homemade sausages, 400 pounds of prime rib and 2500 pounds of fish – delivered fresh six days a week. 

Over at MGM Grand, where special event parties happen year-round, Zimmern goes backstage at the celebrity-filled Muhammad Ali 70th Birthday Bash to see how they serve a world-class dinner to 1800 guests – each of whom needs to be treated like a star.

“Bizarre Foods Celebrates 100” Monday, July 9 at 8pm ET/PT

Andrew and the crew look back over six years and 100 episodes to recount favorite memories, behind-the-scenes bloopers, travel mishaps, and of course, the foods and the memorable characters that have given Bizarre Foods its unique brand of flavor.  Interviews, show clips and behind the scenes footage will take us through the wild ride that began with Andrew eating a beating frog heart in Japan and highlight some of the best and worst foods he’s experienced in his adventures around the world, including the one food he never got to try. 

At the Bellagio buffet – feeding 4,000 people a day, armies of people turn out handcrafted perfection in quantity (over 16,000 pastries per day) with a supply of top quality items including 4,000 homemade sausages, 400 pounds of prime rib and 2500 pounds of fish – delivered fresh six days a week. 

Over at MGM Grand, where special event parties happen year-round, Zimmern goes backstage at the celebrity-filled Muhammad Ali 70th Birthday Bash to see how they serve a world-class dinner to 1800 guests – each of whom needs to be treated like a star.

Since cooking and eating on such a huge scale creates a mountain of garbage (8,000 pounds per day at one resort), the overload of waste needs to be managed.  Through an unlikely alliance between luxury resorts and a Las Vegas pig farm owned by R.C. Combs, Zimmern follows the trail of trash to see how it is being transformed into something edible. 

Through the ingenious custom-made conveyor Combs constructed over 20 years ago, heavily sorted food scraps empty into ten-ton cookers that eventually become a slop for pigs that in turn are sold back to local distributors for processing, and the animals wind up back on the dinner table.  Once again, Zimmern proves that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

“Our show is all about exploring cultures through food,” said Zimmern, “and the new season reveals even more eternal truth about our food, our country and our relationship to the rest of the world.  In a day and age like ours, it’s important to know what our neighbors are thinking and eating, and to propagate conversations that celebrate what we have in common, to better solve the problems that we all face.”

Throughout the season, Zimmern travels the United States stopping in cities including Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Mississippi and San Diego helping viewers relate to the traditional foods passed down by immigrants to modern dishes born and bred by American innovation.  Along the way, he discovers the quirky subcultures, the enduring traditions and the ways we feed ourselves in America.