The bowl was set on the table in front of me next to the
bottle of beer with a metallic clink.
My mind did not even bother to process what it was that had
been set in front of me; I was looking out over the Gulf of Thailand, talking,
drinking and having fun.
Besides, who would set anything other than peanuts in front
of someone at a bar?
My hand goes into the bowl to pick up one small object to
send it hurtling into my mouth with the unerring aim of a man who has spent
much of his life throwing food down his gullet.
As it hits my tongue, something seems off.
The peanut seems too soft somehow, and has a strange
metallic flavour to it. I wash it down with a swig of beer and pick up the
bowl. Crickets…
This was my introduction to the art of eating insects, or
entomophagy.
In some areas of Thailand, insects are an extremely popular
snack, and are sold from street carts and in restaurants.
To be completely honest, there are few snacks you can eat at
a bar that are better tasting and more healthy than crispy crickets dusted with
salt and chilli pepper or giant locusts; you just need to remember to remove
the legs and head.
Since that first introduction, I have continued to eat
insects at least occasionally, and found that they are a healthy, tasty, and
high-protein addition to my diet.
With only 121 calories per 100 grams of crickets (vs 567
calories for a comparable snack food, peanuts), it is clear to see how they are
a good addition to the diet for a man waging a personal war against fat.
Also, unlike peanuts or crisps (for all my British MAN v FAT
friends), it is almost impossible to eat crickets non-stop.
Recently, I was introduced to an excellent Thai delicacy
from Northern Thailand that is essentially young wasps and termites with a few
giant ants, cooked with lemongrass and chilli peppers and served over rice, you
can see that particular dish below.
In addition to being delicious, it was far and away
healthier than the alternative stir-fried chicken or beef.
Available seasonally, this delicacy is something I would
happily eat any day of the year.
Many of us coming from Western cultures have been raised on
steady diets of 'meat and potatoes', and have been told that they are healthy,
balanced diets.
While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with these
things, other cultures around the world live with radically different diets and
lifestyles that we can learn from.
While eating insects is seen by us as a strange thing to do,
they are, gram for gram, some of the best protein available.
Companies such as Bitty Foodsin San Francisco have been
pioneering a baked-goods industry in which cricket flour is substituted for
grain flour, making cookies which are protein rich, sustainable, gluten-free
and far better for you than their alternative.
Over the past century, the food choices available in the
Western world have exploded in a decidedly negative way.
We have the ability to transform our diets from the steady
stream of junk food, to which so many are accustomed, to an entirely different
and decidedly broader global culinary adventure.
It is up to us to make decisions about the future of our
waistlines and our planet, and the best option might be a little more
creepy-crawly than we initially suspected.
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