Post: #1

http://news.yahoo.com/dr-congos-insect-c...15834.html

   

Kinshasa (AFP) - In Kinshasa's Gambela market shoppers can find insects for every occasion -- from unctuous white weevil larvae for fancy dinners to crispy caterpillars and snacky termites that stick in your teeth.

They may be an unbeatably cheap source of protein, but DR Congo's many insect connoisseurs insist they also have real gastronomic value. And the crowds pressing around the insect sellers at the market show that the Congolese can't get enough of them -- crushed, boiled or fried.

"The caterpillars and the other insects we eat are very rich in protein," said Maguy Manase, a seller at the market.

Caterpillars are sold living, dried or boiled up into a kind of porridge. Pyramids of them are piled up on old wooden stalls or on the ground in the huge market. Termites, however, are only sold alive, ladled fresh into customers' bags. There are grasshoppers too, when they are in season.

Prices vary wildly from one type of insect to the next. Elise Yawakana has treated herself to six fat larvae at 1,000 Congolese francs (around 80 euro cents or $1.10) each.

For the woman in her 60s, they were worth it for a "special menu or a luxury meal". A plastic cup full of caterpillars on the other hand will set you back only 1,500 francs (1.20 euro, $1.60).

Ninety percent of the DR Congo's population live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the United Nations.

Caterpillars are "better than fresh meat", declared Marie Nzumba, who has been selling them for 15 years.

Conscious of insects' high nutritional value, the DR Congo government has been encouraging families to include insects in their children's diet.

The Boyambi health centre in the capital, run by the Salvation Army, even offers daily courses on how to cook insects.

Nurse Emilie Kizayako Mpiedi encourages mothers to supplement the diets of their breastfed babies after six months with a porridge made from caterpillar flour.

With more than half of all children under five in the DR Congo suffering from either chronic or acute malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme, insects could be a key part of the solution.

Caterpillars in particular are "within everyone's budget", but that does not mean that they, or insects in general, are "the food of the poor", the nurse said.

One in three people in the world already eat insects, a recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation found, encouraging the consumption of insects "to respond to problems of food security".

"Edible insects contain high-quality proteins, vitamins and amino acids," the report said, urging the development of insect farms.

For the moment in the DR Congo, insects are harvested directly from the wild, mostly from the jungles and forests of Bandundu and Equator provinces in the west of the country.

And people eat them just because they like the taste, said Bonaventure, a smiling driver, as he munched his way through a plate of insects in a little Kinshasa cafe. "It's good. I prefer insects to meat," he said.

Whatever the caterpillar recipe, whether the bugs are smothered in "mwambe" (peanut sauce), served with vegetables or fried with tomatoes, Bonaventure loves them all.

Lots of roadside food stalls and shacks serve chillied insects to spice up "fufu", the stodgy Congolese staple of corn meal and manioc.

And it's also great party food, said restaurateur Ginette Ngandu, adding that her customers often place their caterpillar orders in advance.

   

Post: #2

Crickets> honey roasted peanuts. How do they capture all those insects?

Post: #3

(07-28-2014 10:14 AM)Jukes Wrote:  Crickets> honey roasted peanuts. How do they capture all those insects?

What does a cricket taste like?

Post: #4

I was just joking. Should had added a laughing face. Meanwhile, how do insects taste?

Post: #5

(07-28-2014 10:32 AM)Jukes Wrote:  Meanwhile, how do insects taste?

I had chapulines in mexico (fried grasshopers) they're crunchy and salty, not much flavour to the actual grasshopers, it's really just a substrate to put flavours onto like garlic, chilli and lime. They went down pretty well with a few shots of mezcal, although sometimes the legs and wings get stuck in your teeth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapulines

Post: #6

Wow. The prices mentioned sound incredibly high. In southern Africa some of the local population eat Mopane Worms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonimbrasia_belina), which I think are simply collected from the the leaves of the Mopane tree (it's all they can survive on) and sun dried. The dried worms don't need to be refrigerated and are apparently crunchy and not terrible tasting. Unless the intestines either aren't removed, or have some funky contents before being dried, Then they'd be foul.

Never had them myself. Haven't been to the North East of SA, where they are harvested, for a while. You can get them in tourist style restaurants elsewhere, but haven't seen them the places I go.

Post: #7

(07-28-2014 10:14 AM)Jukes Wrote:  Crickets> honey roasted peanuts. How do they capture all those insects?

Possibly like this!?

Post: #8

I have had chapulines (grasshoppers) and hornigas culonas (big booty ants).

The taste of the chapulines was better. Thy cover them in salt, chili, lime, so its finereally, just a crunchy snack. The hormigas, they really tasted foul, whatever junk they got in that trunk is gross.

Using them to make a flour or patty seems good, would try a locust burger or larva nuggets for sure

Post: #9

I've had a few bugs. Cicadas aren't too bad. I've had my best and worst bug experiences in the Amazon. Lemon ants were great, palm weevil grubs... Not so much.

I always figure trying new things when I'm with locals makes the trip more enjoyable.

Post: #10

(07-28-2014 10:41 AM)Arturo Belano Wrote:  

(07-28-2014 10:32 AM)Jukes Wrote:  Meanwhile, how do insects taste?

I had chapulines in mexico (fried grasshopers) they're crunchy and salty, not much flavour to the actual grasshopers, it's really just a substrate to put flavours onto like garlic, chilli and lime. They went down pretty well with a few shots of mezcal, although sometimes the legs and wings get stuck in your teeth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapulines

Agreed, the taste of grasshoppers isn't bad at all, I only had the salted variety and they tasted like roasted soynuts to me.

The ick-factor comes from the fact that you can never quite break down the hard exoskeleton bits with your saliva, so by the time you swallow you get this gritty consistency. It reminded me a little bit of chewing sunflower seeds whole and swallowing, but more plastic-like.

Post: #11

2/10, WNE (Would Not Eat)

Post: #12

Call me a bitch, but I will never willingly eat an insect.

Post: #13

I've eaten insects before and they were nice. I would probably do it again as it's probably more nutritious than Mcdonalds. It would have to be seasoned and fried properly and not look too much like an insect to begin with though..

Post: #14

0/10 WNE.

Some of you who are brave enough to try this or have already tried them, good for you guys but I am never eating insects lol.

Post: #15

(07-28-2014 10:41 AM)Arturo Belano Wrote:  

(07-28-2014 10:32 AM)Jukes Wrote:  Meanwhile, how do insects taste?

I had chapulines in mexico (fried grasshopers) they're crunchy and salty, not much flavour to the actual grasshopers, it's really just a substrate to put flavours onto like garlic, chilli and lime. They went down pretty well with a few shots of mezcal, although sometimes the legs and wings get stuck in your teeth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapulines

Mmm... like popcorn.

Post: #16

Although the legs of chapulines get stuck in your teeth, it's not as bad as sharp bits of popcorn shells that lodge themselves into your gums

Post: #17

(07-28-2014 12:10 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  I have had chapulines (grasshoppers) and hornigas culonas (big booty ants).

Never heard of hormigas culonas, where was this at?

The foul taste could be formic acid. If you squish an ant and smell your fingers afterwards it reeks of dirt, crushed leaves, iron filings and bathroom cleaner.

Post: #18

It didn't taste quite like that, it was a more "organic" yuck taste. Honestly it was probably just their shit.

Video on Hormigas Culonas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhHejxylKkY

Though here it shows them just selling only the ass-end of the ant. When I ate them they were entire ants. Gross.

Post: #19

I'm pounding down the chapulines every day, there is no better snack to have with beer and mezcal.

When I was in the Australian rainforest, there were these yellow ants with bright green asses. When you found them, you picked them up by the head (tried not to kill em) and out of the bright green ass came a little drop of liquid.

You licked the drop right off the ants ass and is tasted like lemon-lime, and the jolt when it hit you tongue was like the jolt when you lick a 9-volt battery. I loved it. Must have licked 60 ant asses.

The aborigines there have been licking ant asses for a source of energy for millennia.

Post: #20

(07-28-2014 06:01 PM)germanico Wrote:  

(07-28-2014 12:10 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  I have had chapulines (grasshoppers) and hornigas culonas (big booty ants).

Never heard of hormigas culonas, where was this at?

The foul taste could be formic acid. If you squish an ant and smell your fingers afterwards it reeks of dirt, crushed leaves, iron filings and bathroom cleaner.

In the Santander region of Colombian they eat those fat assed ants, they sell them in plastic packs, oven roasted and salted, they're actually not too bad.

Post: #21

So the entire Congo watches Man vs. Wild.

I'd eat insects for survival purposes if I had to, and only then after roasting them. But to have them raised to the status of gourmet luxury cuisine, that to me is just the result of masterful marketing.

Post: #22

We all eat insects unknowingly. They get ground up in mills and when those machines are cutting down the wheat for harvest, all kinds of bugs get caught up in that. It's not like someone sifts through every inch of wheat and makes sure no bugs got caught up in the harvester. Have you ever cooked with flour and noticed a little black speck in the flour? It's mostly likely a piece of insect that was chopped up. Just a little extra protein I guess. It's totally harmless.

But I couldn't knowingly eat a bug, the thought is disgusting. Even a small one like an ant. I was once at a party with Mexicans and they were serving crickets with chile powder on them. I thought I'd give one a try. I put one in my mouth. I thought it was would be crunchy like a dried shrimp, but the body was soft and I couldn't bring myself to bite it knowing that the gooey insides would squirt out. Nasty. I spit it out before biting down on it.

SEA is the bug eating capital of the world though.