hocus pocus – bucky eats locust
Wednesday, August 10th, 2005So..I’m in the night market in the nearest city, Rayong, wandering up & down the asiles filled with delicious foodstuffs & fake designer shirts & aftershaves. then whaddya know?? There’s an insect stall! I can’t pretend to be able to identify by sub-species the 6 or 7 types of creepy-crawly for sale, but I’d guess something like beetles, cockroaches, grubs, large flies & locusts!
Now I’ve never seen a locust before. I didn’t live through a biblical plague, and suburban brighton hasn’t had a locust infestation for as long as I can recall…
So I’m interested. Hmmm. Then Mike, one of our teacher trainers here (he’s actually a teacher trainer training to be a teacher trainer but thats not important, or of any relevance to the story from which I am currently digressing) tells me that he’s just eaten a locust and that they are delicious!
“Nice aftertaste” is the phrase i think he used. A small crowd of fellow students has gathered by this point. The more that gather, the more I’m starting to consider taking the plunge. You have to understand that the eating of weird things is 10% culinary inquisitiveness and 90% bravado. I mean do i really give a shit what locust tastes like?
I ask the Thai guy whose stall it is what the procedure is. he tells me. I then proceed to rip off this insect’s wings, legs, arms and head. Then i pop it into my mouth. And I crunch. “Mmmmmm!!!!” . That’s not what I said. It was ok though. slight meaty vibe & very greasy, which is kinda surprising considering its just been deep fat fried in a vat of hot oil.
below is a picture of a locust. It’s not the specific locust i ate, just a picture I found using google. but I think it illustrates the point just as well.
Next week its scorpion pie for Mike & myself. I can hardly wait…
The Dude