Ranching Crickets in Thailand

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There are estimated to be 20,000 farmers raising crickets in Thailand, with an annual production around 7500 tonnes per year.

schwab_2023-02-23

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Next: cockroaches?

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You don’t even have to go to Thailand for that:

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In NYC, at least, they are definitely sustainable. Speaking of assured sustainability, rats, anyone?

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In his book “Lightspeed”, John Spence reproduces a menu from a Parisian restaurant for a meal attended by the US Ambassador in 1871, when the Prussians were besieging Paris:
Horse soup
Dog cutlets
Ragout of cat
Donkey
Fricassee of rats & mice
Fillet of mule
Roast ostrich

Presumably the Paris Zoo was missing an ostrich. I have to confess that in my life I have eaten what other cultures consider to be delicacies – horse in Kazakhstan, dog in China. It was not too difficult to eat those things politely, but I have no desire to repeat the experiences.

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Rodents were enjoyed in Europe:


by US presidents:


and are still farmed in South America:

Cook/roast/fry thoroughly to avoid bubonic plague:

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Off topic a tad but I’m so excited, going to Paris again in a few weeks and I hope this time to concentrate on L’AnnĂ©e Terrible: 1871, esp. the Paris Commune.
A translation of the first lines of Victor Hugo’s eponymous poem:

“That dreadful year I gird me to relate
But now bent o’er my desk, I hesitate!
Shall I go further on, or shall I stay?
O France! O grief, to see a star decay!
I feel the flush of rueful shame arise:
Plagues heaped on plagues, and woes on miseries!
Still must I on, for truth and history-
The Age stands in the dock—the witness: I .”

(“the witness:ME!” Woulda rhymed better in English but it wouldnta been grammatical
)

Alastair Horne wrote a great book about this period, called “The Terrible Year”.

BUT: starving though they were, I have never heard that the Parisians ate bugs in 1871. :nauseated_face:

This reminds me of Baldrick’s creative cooking in “Blackadder”: the dish pronounced Rat Au vin. (It’s a rat that got run over by a van.)

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The edible dormouse (Glis glis) is still trapped and eaten in Croatia and Solvenia. Wooden traps for edible dormice date from the 17th century. In this video, Shawn Woods tests an antique edible dormouse trap with the (much smaller) modern mice in his barn.

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Once you have the dormice, here’s the Slovenian dormouse stew recipe: 19745_676398779262_8209019_n

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Ranchin’ crickets
.sheesh, y’think it’s tough to lasso a COW



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On the other hand, you can’t round up stray cows with the old wet 'n dry vacuum cleaner.

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When Queen Elizabeth II visited Belize in 1985, she was served one of the signature dishes of the newly-independent country (the former British Honduras), gibnut. This is a large rodent, elsewhere in Central America known as “paca” or “agouti”. Ever since the royal visit, gibnut has been called the ”Queen’s Rat” or “Royal Rat” in Belize.

When Prince William visited Belize in March 2022, he took care to avoid eating the authentic local treat.

“On the Queen’s first visit to Belize, they served her a local delicacy called gibnut and the Daily Mirror reported ‘Queen eats rat!’ because it’s a rat-like creature,” author Robert Hardman said (via Express). “The people of Belize went mad and were frightfully upset that it had been suggested that they’d served the Queen rat.”

Hardman added, “Kate and William will be keeping a very close eye on the menu!”

Tastes like chicken.

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