The 3 Ingredients Andrew Zimmern Won't Eat

When it comes to food, TV show host and Chef Andrew Zimmern is pretty open-minded. In fact, he hosted the show "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern," which centered around the chef taste-testing new ingredients and dishes worldwide. Although he may try anything once, that doesn't mean he has to like everything he eats.

Some of the chef's most disliked foods are the things that are pretty commonplace in American kitchens. When it comes to walnuts, the chef has been relatively vocal over the years about disliking them. In an article the chef wrote for Time, he shared that he even enjoys eating other kinds of nuts — just not walnuts. "I can't eat walnuts," he told People in a 2019 interview. "Won't eat 'em, can't stand 'em."

However, a few years after this article, Zimmern clarified that he is still willing to give the nuts a chance — if only occasionally. "It's been exaggerated that I don't eat them at all," Zimmern said in a TikTok video. "Once a year, I eat a walnut."

One other thing the chef dislikes? Raw cookie dough. In the TikTok video posted to the chef's account, he simply said that raw cookie dough should be used for its intended purpose. "Cookies are incredible," the chef said. "I don't know what's the obsession with raw cookie dough ... It's not my thing." 

While Andrew Zimmern's dislike of the sweet treat was notably due to the taste and texture, the raw dough could actually be cause for health concerns. Raw, unbaked flour could carry E. coli or salmonella bacteria, which could make you sick if ingested. Salmonella can also be found in uncooked eggs.

There are ways to make edible raw cookie dough, though. You'll just need to take a few precautions to make sure you can avoid getting sick. To kill any bacteria in the flour, you just need to add a little heat by microwaving or baking the ingredient in the oven before adding it to the dough. Additionally, make sure to omit the unsafe raw eggs from the recipe.

There is also one breakfast food you'll never catch Andrew Zimmern eating. "I won't eat oatmeal," he told the Wall Street Journal in a 2022 interview. 

He specified that oats themselves are superb and suggested using the ingredient to bake up a batch of homemade oatmeal raisin cookies instead. If cookies aren't your thing, Zimmern also said, "An oat should be toasted and made into granola." 

For slightly less conventional uses, the chef suggested adding toasted oats to soups, stews, and haggis for extra texture. So, what does the chef crave for breakfast instead? "I want eggs and a couple pieces of bacon and a glass of orange juice," he said.

Durian also ranked pretty low on Zimmern's quality scale — though it's not a food he'll outright refuse. "I have eaten durian a lot," he tweeted, adding, "trying to give it a chance but I don't care for it." 

On Zimmern's website, he even posted about the fruit — particularly his dislike of the strong, foul smell. So, while the unusual fruit may not yet join the ranks of Zimmern's disliked foods, the jury's still out on whether or not he truly enjoys it.