Andrew Zimmern Agreed To Drink This Urine Cocktail - Here's What He Thought

The TV show Bizarre Foods was a must-watch for anyone interested in unusual culinary traditions. For over a decade, host Andrew Zimmern traveled the world for the strangest (to an American palate, at least) foods and beverages he could find, like tarantulas in Cambodia and horse rib and rectum sausage in Kazakhstan. In one early episode, Zimmern enjoyed the local food and culture of Goa, India, with one notable exception.

While visiting a spa near Goa, Zimmern agreed to drink a small cocktail containing only various herbs and purified cow urine, with the professed effect that it would improve his metabolism of body fat. He did not enjoy the taste, which he called extremely bitter and sour.

Zimmern later made the following promise to his viewers: "I will never, ever, ever, ever drink cow's urine again. You have my word on that. I'll even eat durian again before I drink cow's urine." If you're not familiar with this spiky, smelly fruit, watch 100 people try durian, and you'll get an idea of how much he disliked cow urine.

The spa Andrew Zimmern visited practiced what's known as Ayurveda, a Sanskrit word that translates to "knowledge of life." It refers to a wide variety of natural, holistic treatments, including natural medicines to improve the balance between one's mind, body, and spirit with the environment, which is thought to promote good health. 

Some Ayurvedic medicines are clinically proven to help control certain conditions. But there's no known scientific link between human metabolism and cow urine, which can contain unhealthy bacteria and other contaminants that make it unfit for consumption. But even if the cow urine were to be completely purified, it is not a scientifically proven way to boost metabolism. Meanwhile, apples and avocados are just two of some 25 foods that have been shown to boost metabolism, and they're a lot more palatable than cow urine. 

Bizarre Foods went off the air in 2021, but it's likely that Zimmern has kept his years-old promise to never drink cow urine again. However, it's possible he might have indulged in more bites of "sweet" and "nutty" cow placenta, one of the bizarre foods Zimmern has eaten that he actually seemed to like.