Vespid can be the scariest bug for any of us, and it has had a great impact all over Japan this year… But did you know that some regions in Japan do have a tradition to eat such a lethal bug?
I have heard that bees can be eaten, but wasps??? I can see that the insect will be dead to be eaten by the time I see them on my dining table, but it requires some sort of courage to eat for me…w(・o・;)w
"Nemo's great uncle" some rights reserved. flickr
According to the article, it is not certain when Japanese people started eating vespid, but people in mountainous area of Gifu, Aichi and Nagano prefecture as well as around Takachiho of Miyazaki have frequently consumed the insects. As these areas are surrounded by mountains and far away from other coastal regions, vespids were considered as one of the precious nutrition sources, full of protein, calcium and iron.
"netman" some rights reserved. flickr
Now, it makes sense why it was so important for the people～ 🙂
What traditionally consumed in those areas is larvae and pupae only, and it traditionally becomes preserved food to eat with rice. It seems larvae and pupae taste nice and soft like soft fish roe with a slight sweetness. On the other hand, adult wasps can be submerged in shochu spirit, but hardly eaten as a food.
…But, according to the article, (of course) there is a great person, specialised in insect cook (!?), and he explained that adult wasps taste just like prawn…
Hmn, prawn… well, I can somehow guess that wasps may similarly crunchy like prawn because of its hard-looking body, but it is still scary to eat for me… FYI, this guy have wide variety of unique recipes; cooked rice with wasps, wasps soup, deep fried wasps etc., etc.; however, it may be too risky to cook for us, so let’s leave it just for experts like him… Lol.
What do you think about today’s article?
Let us know about unique insects food of your country, too!
Source: web R25
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