Bugs!!!

The first time I saw the fried bug vendor at a festival was when I stumbled onto an event at Saphan Hin Park. Jackie was out on a girls' night that Saturday and I had nothing to do. Too restless to spend yet another night at the house I headed into Phuket Town in hopes of finding a snooker hall. As I was aimlessly putting along on my scooter strings of lights, carnival tents and a huge stage appeared (at the time I didn't know that it was Saphan Hin Park). Dismounting near the water and lights show I made my way towards the main stage. The first stall I passed was a variety of fried bugs, I was tempted to snatch a plate full of them immediately, but being a bit of a media whore and not having a camera I passed.

Giant water bugs upfront

 Just look at that selection!

My general philosophy  for food is try it at least once, and do your best to join the Clean Plate Club mother was always going on about. This has backfired several times, most notably in Ghana when I passed by a an old woman grilling bats next to the zoo. I had never tried bat, so despite the trees above that were heavily laden with the flying rats I bought one of their crisped bodies.

With the red pepper sauce smothered on it, the bat ended up looking more like an aborted fetus than any kind of food I was aware of. I was only able to pose with it in my mouth for a quick picture, though I did make a half-hearted attempt at nibbling on one of its wings.

Here in Phuket, I was ready to give the odd foods of the world another try. I have heard of bugs in chocolate and might have even tried a couple chocolate ants in my time, but fired up bugs served a la cart was going to be something different I was sure. They were bound to taste like bug and not so much like chocolate crunchies.

The fried bug vendor at Patong Carnival last week was my ticket. I had actually passed on the chance to gobble down some insects Lion King style on several different occasion by then, but that night was different -- Jackie and I had a camera!

Though bug eating is supposedly popular in northern Thailand I had my doubts about its deliciousness. The bamboo worm aka "train worm" especially didn't seem too appetizing.

That is no tiny giant water bug between my chopsticks.

Yes, I know people really don't eat anything like that, but I was already six or so bugs in: big crickets, small crickets, bamboo worms and larva. I wasn't sure I could handle breaking through the tough oil slick wings of the giant water bug and really getting to the"meat" of the matter. 

The bugs won this one. After shoveling as many of them into my mouth as I could handle I ended up spitting out the remains of the cockroach and ditching the rest of my 50 baht bug meal. Luckily, Jackie was willing to split a beer with me, because I don't think I could have handled the oil bug flavor for much longer.