In Spain and in our immediate surroundings, eating insects seems like a real mess to us. But the reality is that it is a more common food than it seems. The FAO (United Nations Food Organization) published a report a few years ago in which it considered that insects should be taken into account more within the diet. Not for nothing are they a rich source of protein, iron and vitamins.
The main problem is the disgust they give us. However, sometimes gastronomy goes through fashions and what, at first we would not taste or get fed up with wine in our country, on the other side of the world seems irresistible.
In this way it is easy to find restaurants that serve dishes whose main ingredient is insects. Also markets that supply these restaurants and that sell their products to the public. One of the most popular was the Donghuamen night market in Beijing, which after 32 years in business is closing.
On June 24, tourists will no longer be able to show their daring by eating a skewer of scorpions, a handful of worms or beetles as the famous bug market in the Chinese capital will close forever. The authorities have taken this decision because of neighborhood complaints about noise and lack of hygiene when managing garbage in the market or food storage. However, the fact that the Donghuamen night market is located in the center of the city, a few meters from one of Beijing's golden avenues full of luxury stores, has probably also had a lot to do with it.
The market was born in 1984 as a set of street stalls. At first it featured the culinary diversity of Beijing, but gradually incorporated snacks and dishes from other parts of the country. At present the visitor can find from spring rolls, roasted ducks or chicken skewers to snakes, cicadas, stars or seahorses, which are sold at a higher price than normal given the peculiarity of the site.
Any tourist guide about China advises visiting this Beijing market, now with more reason due to its imminent closure, and it is common to see foreigners and Pekingese, photographing themselves or videotaping the experience of eating fried grasshoppers, ants, centipedes or lizards. They open every day from 15pm. at 22pm.
A scene that in eight days will not be able to be repeated in this metropolis, although it will be repeated in other parts of the nation, such as in the southern province of Canton, where some of the insects that are so widely repudiated in the West continue to be part of the menu.
Habit of eating insects
The UN indicates that 2.000 billion people around the world consider insects to be a delicacy or even a staple of their diet. For this institution, bugs are the food of the future to alleviate famines or food shortages as well as promote good health and protection of the environment.
Entomophagy (the habit of eating insects) is widespread in some parts of the world, especially in Asia, Oceania and Central America. The most consumed insects in the world are ants, grasshoppers and some species of beetles. But among the arachnids, the biggest delicatessen is the scorpion, which is consumed in almost all of Asia due to its medicinal properties.
In any case, entomophages have at their disposal a fairly extensive menu, since it is considered that, of the million known species of insects, about 1.200 are edible.
In Colombia they already export their ants as an exotic delicacy. In Zimbabwe, packages of dried worms are sold and in Madagascar they put out whole sources of beetle caterpillars at parties. In the Philippines they roast grasshoppers and add them to soups, and some Australian restaurants serve grubs. In Ecuador, the so-called lemon ants are eaten alive, while the large culona ants are fried beforehand.
As we can see, there are many places in the world where insects are seen as a delicacy. Those people with insectophobia will not think the same, to whom the very idea of eating bugs will probably give them nightmares.
In any case, in the West the idea of eating insects is beginning to be accepted and in many countries there is growing business in this sense. For example, in the United States there is a growing farm business and in Europe countries such as the Netherlands or Switzerland are leading the change in regulations on the continent so that bugs can be marketed in the same way as other foods.