And now for the main course ...

Some people study them, some kill them, some even have phobias about them ... why not eat them? Insects, a pre-Columbian food staple, may not have caught on like the potato or tomato, but in Mexico you can still crunch on creepy--crawlers

It would take more than 200 years for the spaghetti that Marco Polo brought over to Europe from China in 1296 to be accompanied by tomato sauce. In fact, before 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his band of sea-weary men first arrived to the shores of the Caribbean, there wasn't an Englishman alive who had enjoyed the taste of baked beans and chips.

It's hard for us to conceive today, but the fact is that the so-called "discovery" of the Americas led to the transformation of countless aspects of cultural life in other parts of the world, especially in Europe. The influence of the new continent on the old one was immediately noticeable in gastronomy. Consider how such present-day Western staples like tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, cocoa and turkey. to name but a few, were completely unknown to pre-Renaissance Europeans. All things considered, it's hard to imagine what Europeans ate before their intrepid explorers bumped into the coasts of America.

Aside from being astounded by the size of the Tiatelolco marketplace, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his men were impressed by the variety of food available from around the Valley of Mexico and its environs. "There's one plaza that's twice the size of the plaza in the city of Salamanca... where some 60,000 people gather daily to buy and sell all kinds of food found all over the country," wrote Cortes to Spanish King Carlos V.

But not all the culinary delights of the pre-Columbian world were embraced with such fervor by the Western world. To the shock of many, the ancient inhabitants of Mexico, among other regions of the Americas, were also very fond of another crunchy delight: bugs. And this is one delicacy that has changed very little over the last millennium.

EATING WORMS

Chances are you've eaten the worm after downing an entire bottle of Oaxacan Mezcal. Perhaps you've even nibbled on a fried grasshopper (chapulin) during one of your trips to the countryside. But the variety of insect "cuisine" in pre-Hispanic Mexico was far more extensive than you might imagine.

When considering what remains of pre-Columbian dishes, it must be remembered that the term "Mexican indigenous" is extremely vague: What the Aztecs ate in the Valley of Mexico was different from what the Mayas whipped up in the Yucatan jungle. Gourmet food academics are still discussing today the origin of many of Mexico's sauces and cooking techniques, and to what extent they are a mix of indigenous and Hispanic, or indeed, Huichole and Nahuatl.

One staple that continues to be enjoyed in certain parts of the country is the consumption of anything with more than four legs. Pre-Hispanic communities ate what nature provided and that included what many today might react to with a can of Raid rather than a frying pan and a fat pile of tortillas.

Eating insects never really took off in Europe or the United States and has been left to the somewhat mistrusted survivalist element of society. "Certain insects can survive a nuclear war," we are told, "and will be the food of the future." And according to researchers at the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), bugs could serve an even more immediate purpose. A recent study by scientists at the UNAM's Biology Institute suggests that insects could remedy the world's food shortage problem due to their high nutritional value: Per gram, insects have a higher protein content than the meat of many mammals.

But whose mother would approve of their kids eating bugs? And it is precisely this modem stigma that has continued to bring world levels of bug consumption to all-time lows.

But hard-core bug-chewers aren't extinct yet! Websites such as www.eatbug.com (yes it exists, take a look!) offer a fairly sane discussion of edible creepy-crawlies. Particularly interesting is the recipe page--the favorite being the "Natural Style" recipe which goes something like this:

Ingredients: As many mealworms as you can sanely eat

Open mouth. Insert live mealworms. Chew. Swallow.

It also contains a common sense cautionary note: "Do not snag passing cockroaches, ants, or termites in an urban area unless you have developed a natural immunity to pesticides."

(As a side note, it's worth mentioning that worldwide you can find fried cockroach (Macao, Southeast-Asia), and the Venezuelan delicacy of grilled tarantula, though neither of these have really been expanded upon in Mexico.)

LOCALIZING CREEPY-CRAWLERS

What bugs can be found and in which form depends where you are in the Republic. The variety throughout the country is impressive and features such unexpected species as the black wasp, water-fly larva, fleas, scorpions, bees and butterflies. Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca and Guerrero are among the states where bug consumption still forms an important part of the local diet.

The selection of insects and their various forms of presentation can vary in shape, size and sauces. One example of a modern cultural mishmash is the "Grasshopper Pizza," found in a restaurant in Oaxaca, made with local chapulines (grasshoppers).

Those Mexicans who make lunch of more than 100 different species of insects tend to prefer their bugs dead, cleaned and cooked. There are exceptions however: The jumile (a black beetle), available in the state of Guerrero, ought to be eaten alive, though it is suggested that you move quickly during this particular snack as they have a tendency to run away.

The more famous edible Mexican bugs--grasshoppers, the Maguey grub, ant eggs (the Mexican caviar)--can be found during the rainy season (beginning in June) in Mexico City's Mercado de San Juan and Mercado de Sonora. Or in the case of the Mexican caviar, known as escamol, you can even pick some up in the gourmet section of the local department store Palacio de Hierro.

Gusanos, or worms, are also available in Mexico City, and honey ants (hormigas de miel) are popular in the southern state of Chiapas.

The nutritional value of insects is well noted (See graph on pg. 52 to compare bugs with other meats). It is of course assumed when comparing the energy content of a 100 grams of insects to beef that someone else collects them for you. The high caloric value of grasshoppers is not going to do you much good if you have had to spend hours running around a field to collect them.

So, if you have a hankering for a truly authentic pre-Hispanic dish then look no further than the common garden insect. If you're feeling a little squeamish, then try a compare and contrast exercise with your average sea-bound crustacean--a diver-friend refers to lobsters as ocean roaches, and, if you think about it, shrimp are really just swimming grasshoppers. Buen Provecho!

Paul Day is a Mexico City-based freelance writer who ate several species of insects while researching this article.

Not only delicious, they're nutritious!
Protein and calories in a100 gram sample
  Type             Where              Energy (Kcal)  Protein (grams)
* Beef             local supermarket      241             30.41
* Chapulin         Oaxaca                 193.9           33.6
* Escamal          Hidalgo                157.1           40.9
* Gusano           Mexico City            296             14
* Jumile           Guerrero               437             32.2
* Hormiga de Miel  Chiapas                253.9           17
(Source: National Institute of Nutrition and Medical Science, in
Mexico City)