Edible Insects

Many delicacies become a bit unsavory when you take a moment to look past their fancy names. "Foie gras" just doesn't sound as appetizing when you call it "fatty goose liver." "Caviar" loses some of its cachet when referred to as "fish eggs." And do you really want to eat fungi dug out of the ground by pigs? If you call it a "truffle," sure.

Typhoon's customers rave about worms with tamarind dipping sauce.

There is no nice word, however, that cloaks the eating of bugs. Yet, the creatures that some of us consider pests are revered by others as, well, tasty.

For example, at Typhoon, the bustling pan-Asian restaurant located in the Santa Monica Airport, their most popular martini is served with an olive that's been stuffed with a succulent cricket.

The restaurant's hostess, Yuko Voyemant, maintains that in Japan, where she grew up, insects are regularly consumed. So she's not quite used to the way people here tend to balk at the thought of stir-fried crickets. "They are delicious," Voyemant says. Typhoon also serves ants sprinkled on potato strings and a dish of white sea worms, which are served with a tamarind dipping sauce. Yum!

In their homes, gourmands load their pantries with products from InsectCandy.com, which sells chocolate-covered ants, barbecued mealworms, and salt-and-vinegar-flavored crickets. For weaker stomachs, they sell gummy candies in the shape of tarantulas and chocolate cockroach clusters that look frightful but actually are just plain chocolates molded in an unsettling shape.

According to the strong-stomached sales people at InsectCandy.com, the real bugs outsell the gummy ones. Why are people so eager to snack on cricket chips while sipping margaritas with ants rimming the glass? "It's just another way to push the limit," says Voyemant. "And your friends will be impressed when you tell them all about it."

Posted on February 20, 2006