TMZSports.com
Anyone who yucked Xavier Legette‘s yum needs to reconsider … ’cause celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern tells TMZ Sports eating raccoon is actually quite delightful.
The host of “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” (what a fitting title for a topic like this) weighed in on the Panthers receiver’s shocking reveal this week … when he disclosed on a podcast he enjoyed some trash panda on Thanksgiving.
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Zimmern is siding all the way with the South Carolina native … who claimed raccoons don’t taste like chicken, but possess a very distinct flavor.
Zimmern — a four-time winner of the James Beard Foundation Award — believes no one should judge the 23-year-old’s food preferences just because it’s not found in grocery stores.
“People frown on folks like myself who regularly eat that animal, which is why I was so happy with what Xavier had posted,” Zimmern said.
“Quite frankly, I can cook chicken, pork, beef, lamb and all the other traditional animals as many ways as anybody I know. However, it certainly makes my diet more interesting.”
TMZSports.com
Zimmern added, “We have a lot of other things to worry about in this country. I say let people eat what they’re gonna eat.”
The 63-year-old chef also shared his raccoon recipe with us — and it’s nothin’ like cookin’ chicken.
As the saying goes … don’t knock it ’til ya try it!!