After a lengthy casting session yesterday, my director and I headed over to the restaurant Typhoon, within the Santa Monica Airport. It's a cool little place, where you can watch Turbo-Prop planes taxiing down the runway while enjoying delicious Pan Asian cuisine.
Since I've been fighting my sinus infection and bronchitis, I thought it would be a good idea to have some Thai-style spicy Tom Yam Kung soup to "clear out my nasal passages" as they say. It was a tasty soup, until I bit into what I thought was a green bean. Suddenly, tears and mascara were streaming down my face. I may have made a bit of a scene since our waiter rushed over and said, "I forgot to warn you about the Thai hot peppers..." I gulped my water and beer, sucked on a mushroom, and finally had to be given a glass of milk to extinguish the burning flames in my mouth. I'm a classy broad.
The best part about the meal, however was the appetizer of Taiwanese Crickets, which our waiter said was his favorite of their insect dishes. The stir-fried arthropods are served with skinny, shoestring potatoes and garlic, with hot chili sauce for dipping.
I wouldn't say this dish was particularly flavorful, and was definitely more pleasant than sipping red wine with a squirming roach in the glass, however it wasn't bad either. I'm now convinced that I can eat anything as long as it's fried.
Our waiter told me that ants are "naturally sour", and when they get a shipment of live crickets, they freeze them before cooking. I asked if the restaurant and Petco shared the same delivery truck, and he looked confused.
Eating insects is a Western social taboo, even though we end up chowing down on them anyway as they get in our bread, canned and processed food, and in certain beverages like apple cider (or tequila). Entomological gastronomist David Gracer believes that if more people consumed insects, instead of beef or fish, we could help the environment by getting all the protein that we need, minus the fat, methane gas, and destruction of habitat.
You laugh, you scoff, but this could be our future. Rampant overfishing, and with the room, housing and water requirements needed for animal husbandry, Gracer believes this is where we're headed. 95% of all the animal species on the planet are insects, which means we have approximately 10 quintillion insects buzzing, hopping or crawling around us, ready to be sauteed. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "let's go eat some grub". Ba da bump *crash*.
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For more info: check out the grow-a-brain website on entomophagy with numerous recipes and color photos.
I've eaten a few crickets in my day and I have to say that they're surprisingly crunchy. A few chews and they disappear.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. You have some fun posts and I've enjoyed reading!