Images courtesy of Singapore Food Agency and Localpedia
Eating exotic or “weird” food is neither strange nor unfamiliar among Filipinos. We eat dinuguan (pork blood stewed in vinegar and innards), bagoong (fermented fish or shrimp), balut (fertilized duck egg), tamilok (woodworm), and betute (stuffed baby frog).
Known for its biodiversity in flora and fauna, the Philippines has some 21,000 insect species, 70 percent of which are endemic to the country. Its edible insects include migratory locusts (balang) and grasshoppers, June beetles (salagubang), crickets (kuliglig), termites, and the larvae of beetles, ants, and bees.
Considered as local delicacies, Everybody’s Café in Pampanga offers kamaru, mole crickets fried or adobo style, with legs and wings removed before cooking. Balaw Balaw in Angono, Rizal offers uok, beetle larvae found in fallen coconut trees, cooked as adobo or steamed with tamarind leaves, and its own take on kamaru .
Insect larvae may come from the beetle or moth; it looks like worms with cylindrical and segmented bodies. It could be eaten uncooked or deep fried, usually. In Tuguegarao City, beetle larvae known as abaling is popular and pricey. In Isabela, it is cooked in a dish called dinakdakan. Among the Ibanag, Itawes and Ilokano, abaling is a popular fare.
Bohol has its chichaworm, deep-fried larvae seasoned with sugar, salt, and chili powder. In Nueva Ecija, June beetles are cooked with tomatoes as kinamatisang salagubang or adobo style and its meat taste like chicken.
Abuos is the Ilocano word for giant red ants that lay their eggs on leaf nests on tree tops. In Ilocos Sur, summer means harvesting the pupae of the red weaver ant, itlog ti abuos, sauteed with onions, garlic, and soy sauce or cooked with tomatoes as omelet.
Its eggs are known as the caviar of Ilocos, with its rich and tangy taste. Restaurants in Bangued, Abra and Vigan, Ilocos Sur offer this seasonal and expensive delicacy, harvested only within an 11-to15-day window. In Natonin, Mountain Province, Kachiw yag abuhos is a dish that uses finger-sized river fish called kachiw and the eggs of the red weaver ant.
In Panay, apan-apan (local term for grasshoppers) refers traditionally to locusts deep fried or sautéed in soy sauce, as part of sumsuman tradition of eating some tidbits when drinking alcohol.
Yummy bugs in Singapore
Early in July, Singapore has approved 16 insect species including crickets, locusts, grubs, and silkworm to eat as food. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) will also allow the import of insect and insect products for human consumption and animal feed for food-producing animals, with immediate effect.
Some local restaurants and retailers have plans to add insects to their offerings. A Singaporean restaurant chain called House of Seafood has prepared 30 insect-based dishes including glutinous rice balls garnished with silkworms, salted egg crabs with superworms, and fish head curry with a side of crunchy crickets.
Ensuring the safety of food in Singapore, SFA guidelines stipulate that insects cannot be harvested from the wild and must be manufactured in regulated premises.
The European Union and Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Korea, and Thailand have allowed the consumption of certain insect species that meet their regulatory requirements.
In London, the restaurant Yum Bug’s specialty is transforming crickets into meat substitute such as beef mince or braised lamb. They are targeting people who are consuming meat by giving them a better option that “still feels like meat and has full animal protein.”
In Europe, France is the center of European insect farming for animal and plant feed; a biotechnology company, InnovaFeed owns the world’s largest insect farm at 55,000 sqm that produces 15,000 tons of protein a year.
Way to go!
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in 2013 states that at least 2 billion people worldwide eat bugs every day, representing 30 percent of the world population. The most commonly eaten insect group globally are ants, beetles, caterpillars, cicadas, crickets, dragonflies, grasshoppers, leaf bugs, locusts, scale insects, termites, and wasps.
A 2024 report titled “The global atlas of edible insects: analysis of diversity and commonality contributing to food systems and sustainability,” has identified 2205 species consumed across 128 countries. Published in the science journal Nature, it notes that Asia has the highest number of edible insects (932 species), followed by North America (mainly Mexico), and Africa. The countries with the highest consumption of insect are Mexico (452 species), Thailand (272 species), India (262 species), China (235 species), and Japan (123 species). The practice of eating insects or entomophagy is deeply rooted in cultural practice.
Good for the planet
Insects are a far more sustainable and environmentally friendly source of quality protein and essential nutrients, because they can be harvested without the destruction of forests as well as an alternative to livestock that produces methane.
Today’s world population estimate of 8.2 billion will grow to 9.7 billion by 2050. Amidst the destructive effects of climate change, water shortages, overfishing, and reduced productivity of crop-growing fields —it is easy to imagine how insects will be good for the planet, and for all of us.