Andrew Zimmern Is Apparently Really Bad at Eating Crawfish

Crawfish season hasn’t officially arrived in Houston yet, but food personality Andrew Zimmern has already made the crustacean a major topic of conversation in Space City thanks to his new show The Zimmern List.

Via his Twitter account, Zimmern has been touting upcoming episodes of the Travel Channel show, which will shine the spotlight on a number of Houston favorites, including Himalaya, Ninfa’s on Navigation, and Crawfish & Noodles, where the incident in question occurred. While eating crawfish alongside chef Chris Shepherd and publicist Lindsey Brown, Zimmern chows down on an entire crawfish body, shell and all. CultureMap’s got a slowed-down video of Zimmern crunching down on that crawfish shell, and it’s pretty tough to watch.

For people who regularly eat crawfish, the feeling of biting down on a small scrap of shell in the mix of all that tender, spicy meat is like nails on a chalkboard, but Zimmern eats the entire shell-encased crawfish tail without missing a beat. The most serious debate over crawfish — whether or not to suck the heads — continues to rage on, but pretty much everyone can agree that nobody should ever eat crawfish shells. Everyone except for Andrew Zimmern, apparently.

• Watch Andrew Zimmern’s crazy crawfish move on new Houston episode of Travel Channel show [CultureMap]