'Bizarre Foods' Andrew Zimmern Collaborating On Food Jewelry Line For Charity

Andrew Zimmern, the globetrotting chef best known as the host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods," has teamed up with a jewelry designer for a line of culinary themed jewelry.

True foodies can now sport their love of carrots, crustaceans, and even garlic on a chic, American-made, Italian leather charm bracelet.  Zimmern enlisted the help of designer Nicole Nelson for the new collection called "Delicacies."

"Food provides us with energy to live, breathe, think—but we believe that food also can bring in certain energies into our lives," explains Nelson to Paste Magazine. "Take garlic, for instance: people have worn it around their necks since the Middle Ages to protect themselves from the evil eye, vampires, and evil in general. We're advocating doing the same thing, but with a prettier, more delicate version.

Proceeds from the stylish bracelets—which range in price from $75 to $85—will go towards a food-related charity. First up, Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry.

"In this era, when food is being fetishized and celebrated like never before, it's great that people who appreciate, and can afford, the very best in food can also help fight hunger with their purchases," Zimmern told Paste.

"I also love the fact that the chefs on our Chef's Table [an advisory group of notable figures in the restaurant industry]—Gavin Kaysen, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson and I—are choosing the hunger-relief charities that are nearest and dearest to our hearts. Food people are the best, most generous people in the world."

Shoppers can choose between two leather band thicknesses and search for charms by meaning—eggs and basil supposedly symbolize fertility—or browse through dozens of mini foods. Other charms in the collection include a tiny corn, a chili pepper, cacao plant, grapes, a pineapple and several assorted animal proteins. Some of Zimmern's most unusual snacks—like bull testicles, the stinky durian fruit, and haggis—failed to make the culinary cut. But of course the adventurous chef has a few fun favorites.

He says, "I'm wearing the Delicacies octopus, and sometimes I switch to the cricket and goat in Thick Cuts."

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This article was originally published on October 29, 2015