Thai-land of the edible insects

Eating insects (and food products made our of insect powder) is becoming popular in the west. Newcomers start is our of curiosity and the thrill of what most of the Europeans an Northamericans consider an exotic, unusual meal.

But (as many tourists learn here) in Thailand street food “outlets” prepare fried crickets, spiders, locusts and scorpions based on an old traditions – better an insects than franc fries. Because bugs have a good taste, and in Thailand there are around 200 types of edible insects and about 20 of them were and are commonly eaten (mostly, in the countryside). Although youngsters today may prefer the junk food at Family Mart and 7 Eleven retail chains, the tradition is still alive, which is confirmed by the numbers: insect breeding amount to more than 7 tons per year, thanks to some 20,000 farmers breeding crickets and other insects. And this on top of insects collected around in the country.Most of the countries in the world eat insects. According to United Nations, more than 100. But Thailand’s edible insect tradition has been preserved and developed, not to mention mixed with  modern gastronomy and urban lifestyle. Including packaged products (you can choose between fried silkworm or crickets, and two different flavors) available at.. oh, yes, the junk food retail chains – right next to the “normal” chips! And crickets have been spotted on sushi dishes around here.

Thailand is also the place where the methods to farm insects are constantly developed, by studying the best techniques (primarily at the Faculty of Agriculture in the city of Khon Kaen), and by organizing seminars to teach farmers how to set up the premises and the processes. Farmers benefit greatly from this (see the article: Insect farming can buy you a Toyota).

Professor Yupa Hanboonsong is in charge of researches at that University. She recently observed in an interview that the Thai tradition educates on how to handle edible insects, which ones are OK, how to clean them before being cooked (Thais do not eat raw insects).

Impressively, such time-honoured wisdom has been seamlessly combined withup-to-date manufacturing and marketing when it comes to modern gastronomy.Today the gourmet-insect business (which includes restaurants, too) is growing pretty fast in Thailand, and the turnover value is hundreds of thousand of dollars, despite the insects coming quite cheap (for the crickets that is around 4 USD per kg at the largest fresh market, including Thalad Thai market just outside Bangkok, or Khlong Thoei market, downtown).

Packaged insects are sold on the internet by Thai companies established a few years ago, when the western market was still totally unexplored. And now a few mills for the production of cricket flour are popping up in the north of the country. Cricket flour is sold at more than 50 USD per kg in the US, given the limited production and the high demand. Thailand is the right place to start that production, too. The crickets are already here!