Travel Channel

Unbelievable. I nearly vomited. Andrew seemed to have a great time tormenting that lobster with the owner of Jewel Bako in NYC. There is a line between food and animal cruelty - Andrew crossed it. That owner kept poking at the head to make the live lobster cringe. It was writhing in pain! There was nothing redeeming about that segment. It shouldn't have aired.

DISGUSTING!

I agree, I am not a vegetarian but this was obscene. I enjoyed this show at first, but I will stop watching it as soon as I can make note of the sponsers, whom I will contact. The guy who owned Jewell Bako is a soulless scum. Everyone should call his restaurant(?) and register a protest. Isn't there enough horror in the world? The same goes for Anthony Bourdain and foie gras!

I took my complaint to the Gov., Mayor, ASPCA and Humane Society of NYC. You have an excellent point on the sponsors. If you end up with a list, please post it here. I will do the same and contact them as well.

The restaurant info is:

Jewel Bako
239 E 5th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 979-1012

I was pretty sickened by how the poor lobster was still moving even though its tail was gone. The stupid owner was playing around with its head. It is animal torture no matter what you say!

I was also annoyed that AZ ate sushi with his hands. Come on, that's what chopsticks are for! You don't sushi with your hands!!! At least he got a clue and picked up his chopsticks after he saw the owner use his.

I missed the show, I end up falling asleep, while they were at the soccer fair.

They actually showed the chef just cut the tail off the lobster?

Nowadays, they don't show the killing of the lobster, I watch a lot of cooking shows, and they just don't show it anymore.

Most chefs nowadays knows how to kill the lobster, and crabs quick, and humane.

Lobster, you can freeze them a bit, or a knife, cut straight down the middle of the lobster's head, instant death.

Crab, plung the knife right in the middle, with the crab under the ab., thus servering the heart,and brain instant death.

These are the preffered, and humane way to prepare live crab, and lobster.

Cutting the head off is not correct, and the lobster is still living.
Remember a lobster is like a giant cockaroach, a cockraoch can still live for days without it's head.

They didn't just cut off the tail. The tail was chopped off and then shown contracting and releasing. Then the chef peeled most of the scales off the back of the live lobster and placed the tail meat back on the plate (that's how it looked), and AZ and the owner picked meat out of the live lobster's back.

The lobster was still very much alive. I guess it's like getting your legs cut off and then being served while they eat your butt and back. I've never seen anything so cruel on this show before.

Other countries will eat live food, like octopus in the asian countries, but those people don't seem to get off on bringing the animal's pain. This guy just kept stroking the lobster's head to make it writhe while they ate it. He was utterly disgusting.

I did some reseach, this resturant is the new snob sushi trend.

They want to prove to their clients that they are eating the freshest seafood.

They would also fillet a live fish, and you would be eating the fish on the plate while it is still moving.

This resturant is a high-end resturant for the rich.
I find it to be barbaric, this new sushi trend.
I have no problems with resturants that serve fish, with the live fish in the tanks, and the fish is killed humane by severing the head.

It is also dangerous to eat curtain live fish raw this way due to pathogens, and parsites, and worms in the raw meat of the fish.

Don't get me wrong, I love sushi, but here in NYC, it is required, by law that some fish be frozen first to kill off the pathogens.
Tuna is to be eaten in moderation due to the mercury content.

I was appalled and disgusted by the sight of the lobster being tortured and abused to titillate the taste buds of AZ and the owner of Jewel Bako. Having lived in Japan, I wasn't surprised at the behavior of the chef but to show such mindless cruelty on American television is beyond the pale. I found it particularly ironic that as AZ was stuffing his fat face with the lobster and oh-ing and ah-ing, he was also questioning the morality of the process. AZ, Travel channel and especially the producers of the show should be ashamed of yourselves.

quote:

Originally posted by peaches2331:


I was also annoyed that AZ ate sushi with his hands. Come on, that's what chopsticks are for! You don't sushi with your hands!!! At least he got a clue and picked up his chopsticks after he saw the owner use his.

Actually eating sushi with your hands is perfectly acceptable while seated at the bar. In fact, it's easier to eat it properly that way... the rice should not be dipped in the soy sauce (even though they didn't serve it that way at the restaurant the showed) but the fish side should be.

Remember, sushi is in essence Japanese finger food. That's its origin.

It seems like the rich and corp.exects. are coming up with more preversed ways to eat food these days.

What's next eating sushi off of a naked person?

Cruel? Perhaps. But this is done throughout Asia unfortunately, so it's really no surprise that some pretentious putz named Jack Lamb would capitalize on this appalling form of cuisine. I love sashimi, but I really can live without seeing the poor thing dying in front of me.

And, yes, one is actually supposed to eat sushi with ones hands in Japanese culture. It's cool if you are a sanitary person and not a slob. AZ, stick with the sticks.

Buyer beware on raw lobster. I don't think it's illegal, but it's not wise because you cannot be guaranteed of where this lobster came from.

My daughter and I watch Bizarre Foods regularly. We think it's great! We're vegetarians, so we think all meat is gross (and we do mean ALL MEAT!). It's part of the appeal of the show... it's almost like sci-fi or fantasy for us.

However, Andrew, you crossed the moral line when you decided to eat an animal while it was still living on the plate. I don't care how chic it is... it was unconscionable. I know people from other cultures do the same thing, such as eating live octopus, and it's terrible. Please don't stoop so low in the future, or we will have to stop watching your show.

Personally, I find it sick that Andrew stuffs his face with food to the point of gluttoney then he questions his "karma" AFTER eating and torturing a live animal. It's not amuzing, it's not cool either.

ANDREW, ANDREW, ANDREW, SHAME ON YOU MAN! If you had to comment on the moral issue then you know you should not have done it. JUST SAY NO! You would have earned the respect of your viewers. Other countries may have to eat what is available,but wherever you eat, you make choices. That manager took perverce pleasure acting like that on TV. Upscale? No, low class at the least. I will be writting them also. I don't know if I can watch your show anymore. Shame, because I liked you. You sold yourself out to what you thought would be ratings fodder.
Did you really have to do that?

quote:

Originally posted by thescovillain:
Cruel? Perhaps. But this is done throughout Asia unfortunately, so it's really no surprise that some pretentious putz named Jack Lamb would capitalize on this appalling form of cuisine.

The difference that I see that that Lamb took perverse pleasure in tormenting the animal while they ate it. I've never seen anyone in an Asian country take the time to ensure the animal was suffering before they ate.

The more I think about this, the more I hate what I saw.

Andrew - I'm taking you OFF my Tivo Season Pass. I will NOT be wasting my time watching you anymore.

I agree with most of the other postings. I am still upset about the live lobster segment. It was not even in a culturally acceptable setting!-like maybe Asia!!! I had to turn the show off! I will not be watching it again. shame on you Andrew Zimmern.
May I add i am not a vegan nor a member of PETA (Humane Society and others yes!) but this was really sick. There should have been warnings about animal cruelty.
Your show is definitely off my schedule!!!!

Hyvaa Paivaa, Suomi2 :-)

Wow, I haven't seen this episode yet, but looks like it has stirred up a lot of controversy. I'll wait until I see it before I pass judgement on it, but I have seen other shows about eating live animals and I think that is just plain wrong.

However, if you want to make a change in this, do what the original poster did; complain to the restaurant, government officials, etc. All complaining to the sponsors will do is potentially shut down BF, which ultimately will have no impact on the source of the cruelty - the restaurant and the patrons.

Jeff

My wife and I are fans of Andrew but we would also like to voice our disappointment.

Anyone who does 5 minutes of research on the topic knows that lobsters experience and incredible amount of pain when being cooked and/or eaten raw. Stop this barbaric and nonsensical practice.

My family and I never missed an episode of bizzare foods, but after seeing the New York show I will not allow my son to watch it again. What a disgusting, obscene, cruel thing to do. I can appreciate cultural differences but that went beyond what is acceptable. Andrew and the owner of that horrible restaraunt should be ashamed. I think the worst part was watching to owner poke at it just so we could all see it was still alive, what awful man. Andrew you should have known better. You lost several viewers because of your complete lack of compassion!!!

quote:

Originally posted by sushiface:
Anyone who does 5 minutes of research on the topic knows that lobsters experience and incredible amount of pain when being cooked and/or eaten raw.

So I did 5 minutes of research and came up with:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/tech/main673989.shtml
http://ask.yahoo.com/20070516.html
plus many, many more.

The only places I see stating lobsters do feel pain are from sites like "lobsterlib.com" and other animal advocate sites -- and I'm always skeptical of advocate sites.

I think mistreating animals is wrong, period, and they should NEVER EVER be eaten live!!! But your sarcastic comment of "anyone doing 5 minutes of research" got me wondering. I did 5 minutes of research, and I don't think your point was made.

Sorry this took so long, these are the sponsers I have seen on Bizarre foods. 1800petmeds, 1 954 979-5995, liberty mutual, 617 357-9500 presidentialsvcteam@libertymutual.com, nasonex by shering-plough 1 908 298-4000, sprint-nextel 1 703 433-4000, progressive ins 1 440 461-5000 wwwprogressive,com/contact/contactus. You can also go on their websights to email them. I am contacting as many as I can to urge them to withdraw their ads if Bizarre foods cannot recognize when they are going over the line. And just because things like this have, and are happening doesn't mean that we have to accept them here. And just because a place calls itself upscale because it costs so much, doesn't mean it is. Shame on AZ for endorsing this cruelity.also,I know its wrong, but I don't care what AZ eats his sushi with!

I didn't like to see the Live Lobster being eaten either, but I'm actually glad I was given the option. The point of the show is to show us not only the many different type of foods around the world, but also the cultures. If this had taken place on one of the Asian Country themed shows in some alleyway instead of a very high priced restaurant in NYC there would be less outrage. This kind of thing happens around the world. I didn't hear anyone complain when he ate beating fish or turtle or frog hearts, or when he ate live bugs.

Don't expect them to show the same thing with any other type of animal, and again, I personally believe doing that stuff to even Lobsters or crabs is just as bad, but you guys are lashing out at the wrong people. This is too small of an issue to fight FOR CENSORSHIP. Trying to undermine the show by going for the sponsors is just pathetic.

I'm sorry, but to me it sounded like they had a special way to kill it and then served it before the muscles had stopped twitching. When we used to clean catfish when I was growing up, he'd whack them on the head before taking the head off and the heads would gasp, shudder, and twitch for a long time while we cleaned the animal, and I know it was dead. To me, it looked like what they did to the lobster.

So unless I missed something about them mentioning it being still alive, my assumption is that the lobster was so freshly dead that it was still twitching. And that is fresh, and it would be weird to eat something with its still-twitching head on the plate.