Actually these aren’t bad. Most bugs when fried are crunchy – hell even when they aren’t fried they are crunchy. It’s the squishy ones that I can’t stand, like the huhu grubs in New Zealand which resemble big globular sacs of something you might cough up if you had lung cancer mixed in with a little peanut butter. The crickets I had in Mexico were positively divine by comparison and even the scorpions – cooked live while threaded on a stick in China – were better.

The Night Market in Beijing

Eating at Beijing’s night market is like competing in Fear Factor without the prize money. Steph and I spent a night daring each other to eat scorpions that were threaded onto a stick still wriggling. Thankfully they died in the grilling process and were quite crunchy, especially their legs – a lot like crickets. Also for sale were baby birds, starfish, seahorses, silk worm cocoons and, of course, dog. The highlight was the beer, 30 cents for a large bottle; I was well drunk after $1.50. Not drunk enough to eat the dead rat though.

Chocolate Cricket Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry-roasted crickets
Preheat oven to 375. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture and insects, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of weird-food.com