fried bugs as a nutritious and tasty snack!

[ecooper]

Last month I was in Bangkok, Thailand to attend CITES CoP 16. One free afternoon (my only free afternoon) I took the skytrain out to the Chatuchak (weekend) market—the biggest weekend market in the world. This market is incredible: it is HUGE (according to Wikipedia it covers over 35 acres and contains more than 5,000 stalls); it’s CROWDED. It’s a vast labyrinth of stalls, tiny shops and carts selling absolutely everything. It’s chaotic, confusing and utterly fascinating. I spent a couple of hours going through the live animals and tropical fish area.

The afternoon I was there the temperature was 35°C (95°F) and 100% humidity (or so it felt) and in the market there wasn’t a breath of air. After a couple hours I was absolutely dying—I desperately needed air conditioning, a shower and a gallon of water to drink. When I exited the market I came across a cheerful vendor who was selling a variety of fried insects as tasty snacks! I took the opportunity to take a few photos for my blog before I dashed back to the hotel to cool off...

Below is a nice photo of the vendor and a couple of examples of what he had to offer.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com


vender close copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

grasshoppers 3 copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered sm by ernie.cooper, on Flickr


pupae copyright ernie cooper 2013_filtered sm by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

 

[oldmanofthesea]

Gotta ask--Did you try any? ron

 

[Meezerkoko]

I was wondering the same thing based on the title. I know if I was somewhere where they were selling fried bugs I'd definitely try some

 

[web eviction]

I think I would have to pass.... cool pics though!

---------- Post added 04-16-2013 at 08:52 PM ----------

On another note I'm kinda curious if a sling or Juvie T would recognize and scavenge one of these crispy little treats and what effects it might have on the spider? Lol geez I'm board I guess!

 

[Smokehound714]

No animal is safe from mastication while I'm around.

Ive had scorpion, fried tobacco hornworm larva (captive-raised, fed non-toxic food), Fried Bird grasshopper, I'll eat just about anything.

(and yes, all were DELICIOUS)

 

[Entomancer]

I made apple-cinnamon fried superworms once.

1) Obtain worms (I used about 200).

2) Starve them to empty digestive tract.

3) Feed them apple (they'll gorge themselves).

4) Put them in the freezer after an hour or two of this.

5) Pull them back out after a few hours.

6) Set up pan with desired cooking oil.

7) Dice up some apples; fry apples in oil.

8) Add worms and continue frying; add cinnamon/sugar mix (generous amounts) after a minute or two.

9) Eat! It could also be a decent topping for yogurt or ice cream, probably.

 

[The Snark]

Nice pictures!

Not to be a wet blanket about this but a little heads up. In the past 13 years I've had to do about 50 med calls and follow ups from various reactions to chitin ingestion. Anaphylaxis is not uncommon. This appears to effect people who try the delicacies as a new novel thing much more than local people who have been eating them their entire lives.

Chatuchak: Never the same twice. A person could spend their entire life grazing on the vast selection of goodies. Offset that by the obvious lack of sanitary facilities and the very common tummy maladies from what I call poo fingers food preparation and handling. Look for the vendors who handle their wares with a plastic bag on their hands.

 

[ecooper]

No, I didn't eat any of these. I meant to, but was too hot and thirsty when I took the photos. I bought a bag full (sort of a sampler) and took them back to the hotel and put them into the mini-bar. But then I forgot about them.

I have eaten mealworms, grasshoppers and ant eggs in Mexico (put it in a tortilla with enough salsa and guacamole and I can eat anything). I’m not so sure about eating those pupae though... LOL. But he was also offering huge (3-4") fried giant water bugs and deep-fried fledgling birds (I have a couple of photos on my blog)—now those were intimidating!!

EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

---------- Post added 04-17-2013 at 03:05 PM ----------

Nice pictures!

Not to be a wet blanket about this but a little heads up. In the past 13 years I've had to do about 50 med calls and follow ups from various reactions to chitin ingestion. Anaphylaxis is not uncommon. This appears to effect people who try the delicacies as a new novel thing much more than local people who have been eating them their entire lives.

Chatuchak: Never the same twice. A person could spend their entire life grazing on the vast selection of goodies. Offset that by the obvious lack of sanitary facilities and the very common tummy maladies from what I call poo fingers food preparation and handling. Look for the vendors who handle their wares with a plastic bag on their hands.

Wow, that is really interesting! Thanks for this!

EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

 

[PrettyHate]

Interesting.. I find stuff like this fascinating! I am pretty sure that I would gag the minute one of those legs with the spines on them touched my tongue though!

 

[The Snark]

Sorry about the quality. Cell phone camera.
So I wanted to get some shots of the treats at the local market. She wanted to get breakfast. The compromise cost me a buck and a half.
As she munched, sucking the goo out of water bug parts, she complained about deep fat fried bugs. They are much tastier pan scorched or charred in a camp fire. She extolled the virtues of the various spices and seasonings which served to remind me my field pack was running low on Ipecac and charcoal again.

Giant water beetle, male.

Water beetle, femme fatale

Winged termites

Bamboo beetle larvae

Silk worms

Grasshopper larvae

Giant Crickets

Bee larvae

Baby crickets


Consuming.
Select tidbit

Dip in sauce. The mouse shit pepper sauce used here may require assistance. Keep a large carafe full of boiling lava on hand if persistent agony to mouth, throat, stomach, intestines, poo factory and exhaust port is experienced, to help wash it down and quell the incineration.
Enjoy

 

[zonbonzovi]

Hmmm...I could do without the wings...do they soften substantially post cooking? With the giant water bugs do you eat them whole or crack the shells and just eat the insides? I wonder how many injections the prep cooks take on by tying the legs off?

 

[The Snark]

Excessively verbose reply

Hmmm...I could do without the wings...do they soften substantially post cooking? With the giant water bugs do you eat them whole or crack the shells and just eat the insides? I wonder how many injections the prep cooks take on by tying the legs off?

Bug munching etiquette is actually a fine art among various indigenous peoples. Some chitin is eaten, some discarded, and what depends on how it is cooked. Fire scorched breaks down the proteins better and leaves more to be edible. This is one of those cultural things. A perfect example is bugs here and packaging in the first world. The desiccant packages found in various processed foods are often thought to be seasonings. That is one of the main causes of my using ipecac and charcoal. RANT: If the food manufacturers would put the skull and crossbones on those packages they would prevent a lot of poisoning cases every year but they have avoided doing so because of the connotations of a obvious poison label in their foods instead of a nearly unreadable technical blurb and the words, often in a foreign language: Do Not Eat.. end RANT.

Generally speaking, the termites that are wingless are post nuptials flight. If a lot still have their wings they have been caught coming out of the ground pre flight and the connective tissues, which wear out in a few minutes of use, are still intact. Pulling off pre flight wings tears the tissue and causes a leak. The termite is then an empty husk after cooking. Most people pull the wings off before chowing down but I've seen some people grab a fistful and shove it in their mouths without giving it any thought.

I have no idea about the tying the water bugs. I leave it at these people are experts and I draw the line. Where they do something so fast and efficiently it's a blur I end up maimed, punctured, shredded, poisoned and/or supremely aggravated.

 

[nepenthes]

Those termite reproductives actually look kind of tasty.. munch munch. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Galapoheros]

Just a recent article about this topic;

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/22233951/un-says-why-not-eat-more-insects