I first sampled "insect as food" back in 2002 when I was visiting Hua Hin in Thailand. I seem to recall that they were crickets and quite enjoyed them.
Fast forward to 2018 and I am yet again in Southeast Asia, this time I am in Cambodia when I encounter "insect as food". I didn't see insects for sale until I reached the tourist hotspot of Siem Reap. Wandering around the Night Market there were lots of vendors selling individual exotic insects, and arachnids, to the tourists. I saw lots of examples of small groups of tourists, most frequently young males, egging each other on to eat a tarantula or scorpion. The amount paid varied wildly since there were no prices, the cost was determined by how much the vendor could get away with, capitalism at its finest.
I felt not the slightest temptation to sample the food these vendors were selling. However, I did start thinking about the fact that I had not noticed insects for sale in the the various markets I had visited over the previous few weeks.
A few days after leaving Siem Reap I stopped for a break at a small market about 250km southeast of Siem Reap right on the NR6 highway near Skun. Finally I got to see insects for local consumption rather than for "adventurous tourists". The variety of insects for sale was huge, and unlike Siem Riep where a tourist would buy a single creature and often fail to eat the whole thing, here you could buy them by the kilo.
Fast forward to 2018 and I am yet again in Southeast Asia, this time I am in Cambodia when I encounter "insect as food". I didn't see insects for sale until I reached the tourist hotspot of Siem Reap. Wandering around the Night Market there were lots of vendors selling individual exotic insects, and arachnids, to the tourists. I saw lots of examples of small groups of tourists, most frequently young males, egging each other on to eat a tarantula or scorpion. The amount paid varied wildly since there were no prices, the cost was determined by how much the vendor could get away with, capitalism at its finest.
I felt not the slightest temptation to sample the food these vendors were selling. However, I did start thinking about the fact that I had not noticed insects for sale in the the various markets I had visited over the previous few weeks.
A few days after leaving Siem Reap I stopped for a break at a small market about 250km southeast of Siem Reap right on the NR6 highway near Skun. Finally I got to see insects for local consumption rather than for "adventurous tourists". The variety of insects for sale was huge, and unlike Siem Riep where a tourist would buy a single creature and often fail to eat the whole thing, here you could buy them by the kilo.
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