Hey, we eat insects

Eating creepy crawlies and grubs might be something straight out of Fear Factor for some but for locals in these countries, it’s just as common as your local fast food chain.

Australia

Abundant in southern New South Wales during summer, witchetty grubs, the small, white larvae of ghost moths, have been an essential part of the Aboriginal diet for centuries. The grubs are dug from the gum tree roots and are eaten live or barbecued. They are rich in protein and would make a nutritious source if you lost in the bush. Supermarkets even have them in soup tins.

It's scrumptius mate!

Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
Walk the markets of these countries and you will be greeted by street vendors selling an amazing variety of fried insects as snacks. These orders of insects are commonly found : odonata (damselflies and dragon flies), orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids), mantodea (mantids), isoptera (termites), hemiptera (water bugs, cicadas, backswimmers), lepidoptera (silkworm moths are popular), coleoptera (weevils, wood-boring beetles, diving beetles) and hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps). Some restaurants serve insects as part of their menu as well.

Crunch crunch

China
Chinese people are known to eat ‘anything that moves’ so finding locals delighting in insect snacks and delicacies shouldn’t come as a surprise. Just head to a local street markets such as the ones in Tianjin, Hangzhou, Canton or the Wangfujing Night Market in Beijing for a weird and wonderful array. Silkworm cocoons, cicada larvae, fried locusts, crickets and grasshoppers, and eight-legged critters such as scorpions, tarantulas and spiders are a common sight.

Market in Beijing

South Korea
Beondegi or silkworm pupae is a popular snack for South Koreans. They can be bought on the streets, served in bars or restaurants as appetizers or bought in a can from a Korean grocery and convenience stores. Beondegi can be eaten boiled, steamed, stewed or stir-fried.

Beondegi in a cup

Japan
The Japanese have been eating insects for centuries, especially aquatic insects which were an important source of protein. Restaurants in Tokyo and many parts of Japan still offer various insect-based dishes such as hachinoko (boiled bee larvae), Inago no Tsukudani (stewed grasshoppers or locusts in sweet soy sauce), zazamushi (aquatic insect larvae), semi (fried cicadas) and sangi (silkworm pupae. Known as beondegi in Korea).

Hachinoko. Kelantan has our local version. 

Columbia
Hormigas culonas, literally translates to “big-butt ants” in Spanish, is a priced delicacy in Columbia. These leaf-cutter ants are aptly named because of their large lower abdomen. Only the young queens and drones are harvested in the Santander region in spring after the rainy season when they surface to establish their own ant colonies. The ants are roasted and eaten as snacks, a favourite for moviegoers and as bar snacks. Termites and palm grubs are popular edible insects as well.

Big ass butts alright

Mexico
The agave worm, also known as the maguey worm, is the worm you find in tequila bottles. They are also eaten roasted, fried, cooked inside a tortilla or as part of a recipe for a meal. Chapulines or fried grasshoppers are a common snack which are also found commercially canned and sold in supermarkets and local grocery stores. Ants, rich in thiamine and riboflavin, are consumed both in egg form and as adults. Ant eggs, which are common in Mexican markets, are often cooked in butter and served in tacos. Ant larvae are canned and exported as gourmet food.

Here, have some chapulines

Africa

In Africa, many of the tribes eat insects such as termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars, palm weevil larvae, beetles, ants, and locusts. The wings of the termites are removed before roasting or fried and salt is added to taste. Guts of crickets and grasshoppers are removed before fried. Locusts are typically boiled and salted prior to eating. Another widely eaten insect is the westwood larvae, a caterpillar known as kanni. They are boiled and dried in the sun before eaten or used as an ingredient in vegetable soup. Another larvae, the palm weevil larva, is a large insect that is fleshy and grublike with a high fat content. They are collected from the trunks of palm trees and fried. An even larger insect, the compost beetle larvae, can be found in garbage, manure piles or swampy areas. The lower abdomen containing the guts is removed before being washed and fried. Some don’t eat it because they are taken from ‘dirty’ places.

Dirty buggers - compost beetle larvae

You can read the first part of the post here.
Published Star article here.