These are larvae of the palm weevil, an indigenous Amazonian delicacy.
WARNING: This is about to get kinda nasty. Don't read on if you have a weak stomach!
I ate one. Alive. I bit off its head (that little reddish thing) and popped back the rest. Not gonna lie - it squirmed at first. Actually, it was less of a squirm and more of a pulse; you can imagine it, that creepy looking wave of movement down a legless insect's body.
The question I anticipate from you is...WHY!? Why on earth would I eat such a thing!? Well, before we got to the Amazon, Jesse (one of the guys in our group) told me he'd heard that the Amazon is home to large, lemon-flavored ants that we'd possibly have the opportunity to try. I really wanted to eat something crazy and memorable, and so Jesse and I were all for dining on the ants. But they fell through - apparently, these ants live in a scarce tree which must be cut open to harvest the ants, which we weren't about doing. I had given up my hope to eat a cool bug.
And then, something amazing happened. Our group was receiving a "cooking lesson" at Yachana, where we learned how to prepare heart of palm, yucca, telapia, and stinging nettle salad. All was well and happy, and then: the guide brought out a large palm leaf folded around its contents. He asked us to guess what was inside, and but none of us expected to find what was there - those little creatures pictured above. And then he randomly pointed to Jesse and said, "Okay, come eat one."
Jesse about flipped. But he'd been challenged, so he agreed. And then I knew what I had to do. We watched the guide demonstrate how to eat the larvae, and then it was our turn. The weevil-eating group grew to six -- five of the six guys in our group, and me. On the count of three, we made the collective chomp.
Truthfully, it didn't really taste like much. But the texture, and the body wave...it was almost too much to handle. But I kept it down.
Our encore was salted weevil larvae on a skewer, roasted over the fire. Crunchy and delicious, this version of the larvae seriously tasted like bacon. I went for seconds.
2 comments:
mmmm. not sure if i could have eaten a live worm thing.
Attagirl!
So Nana said be careful of food, and I say: if you get some more of those, you better check out the "Eat-a-Bug" Cookbook - and maybe join the Entomology club! I'm sure they're more nutritious than junk food, but definitely not vegan!
Post a Comment