I too miss Gourmet and I think that Ruth Reichl was a terrific editor. I think that Zimmern tries to put the food experiences he has into a context that his target audience can learn from, but unfortunately his target audience seems to be . . . less worldly or open to other experiences than one might hope. I hadn't read that Gourmet article. It made me laugh, since I've seen some of that myself. I had a friend who majored in culinary anthropology, which at the time I thought of as a complete waste, but after many miles and stays in many places I admit it's something I find fascinating. There are some foods I refuse to try though. One of them is something made by members of my family who are duck farmers. One of their biggest sellers is fertilized duck eggs, which are a fairly typical snack in SE Asia. However, in the process of creating and sorting these fertilized eggs, they run into different issues, which are sorted out. For example, there is a special name for fertilized eggs where the fetus has died. That gets sorted into a bin and prepared another way. There is also a category of eggs that have begun to rot and various stages of rotten eggs are used for different things. One of them is a giant (3 ft diameter traditionally) torta, or spanish style omelette. I understand how the food arose, but absolutely refuse to eat it. The smell makes my eyes burn. That said, I agree with your views on cultural affinity. I think when people hold prejudices against others, some people criticizing them are quick to leap to racism without considering the cultural aspect.
I wish Zimmern's show was less Fear Factor and more No Reservations. My parents watch his show and I'll catch snippets when I visit them. It's hard for me to watch, I just don't enjoy even looking at the guy. I've not run in to anything yet that has been too drastic for me to at least "try" but I would definitely think twice about Chicha if it's made by using peoples saliva. That's just gross. But if Dogfish Head makes it.... maybe.
Against all logic that says its fine, I don't think I could eat insects. My cousin has told me about eating ants in Mexico and Cicadas in Peru (apparently they are a lot like shrimp), and he says its fine. I can't get past it. So many cultures around the world revere different types of bugs, but they aren't for me.
Logic doesn't play a strong role in most of our food-fear. When I was in Peru I ate Guinea Pig and Alpaca. I didn't enjoy the guinea pig though because I had one as a pet as a kid. Just didn't seem right. No logic there, all emotion. We used to dare each other as kids to eat ants. I don't recall what they taste like.
Quoted at dinner tonight. Laughs ensued. Then came everyones stories of ant eating; it is more common than I thought.If they tasted good more people would eat them.
"Culinary anthropology" sounds like a cool thing to study. Not a degree's worth, but to round out my humanities credits? hell yeah! I'm not that experimental food-wise. I like what I like and what I like is predicated on what smells good. My best friend loves all things Korean but I just can't get behind the food. Ethiopian? Not a fan. Anything from the middle east? All over it. Thing is, if someone wants me to try it, I'll try it. They're usually happy just to see me try it - I don't have to like it. Which is good, because lutefisk is disgusting, yo. You can eat that shit four times and it doesn't get any better. I don't need to be a part of every culture. I just need to be able to interact with it. Gamely trying something you know to be vile and then making a show of trying to enjoy it is pretty much the culinary handshake. If cultural foods weren't reviled by other cultures, they'd be staples, not delicacies. Pretty much every culture subsists off of proteins, vegetables and starches that are universal. It's only when you get into the "delicacies" that the barriers come up. I don't have to like durian and they don't have to like roquefort. Lychees are delicious and almost anybody can get behind mozarella.