Care for some scorpion on toast?

Feasting on Bugs and Grubs
Story and photos by Mary McGrath

Meet Our Guest Writer Mary McGrath is a freelance writer and photographer based in Los Angeles. As a teenager, she began her writing career as a poet, with her first book coming out in 1980 through Mudborn Press. Although she spent the bulk of her waking life in advertising sales, she finally left corporate life in 2003 to pursue her love of writing, photography and music. Since then, her work has appeared in many national magazines, newspapers and on several web sites. Some of her credits include: Newsweek.com, AOL, Good Housekeeping, Mexico Traveler Magazine, Curve Magazine, Rangefinder Magazine, After Capture Magazine, The National Lampoon and the LA Times. In 2007, she was profiled in the Wall St. Journal regarding her artistic endeavors after leaving the advertising industry. As a travel writer and photographer, Mary enjoys soft adventure, and eclectic dining. Some of her more memorable excursions have included feasting on bugs, a shark and ray feeding, ballooning over Burgundy, and wild helicopter rides. She delights in bringing her destinations to life with her wide array of photographic images. Beyond the arts, she enjoys working out, fine dining and watching at least 1-2 movies a day. She also dabbles as a composer and jazz vocalist, working with many gifted musicians from around the world.

dventure writer that I am, I’ve always been curious to try the unusual. This pertains to dining as well. I’ve sampled cuisine from around the world, and most of it would be classified as edible. But cuisine that’s deemed inedible is another story. It was time to try some insects and grubs.

My friends were in awe, amazed that I would even consider such an undertaking. I’m sure they had 911 programmed into their phones when I announced I was going to a local Santa Monica restaurant to test my courage.

My pal Erika dives into a scorpion

Strangely enough, in many cultures, bugs are a no-brainer. Throughout history, the popularity of bugs is widespread. Today, they remain a traditional food throughout many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

For example, both the Romans and the Greeks consumed insects. Aristotle knew quite a bit about cicadas, claiming that the males are better to eat at first, but after copulating with the females, the ladies taste better as they are full of white eggs. You go girl!

The Japanese often favor aquatic fly larvae sautéed in soy sauce and ginger. In Bali, they often rave about de-winged dragonflies boiled in coconut milk with ginger and garlic. Hmmm....talk about a wing and a prayer...

In Ghana, winged termites are often consumed during the spring rains, and are either fried, roasted or incorporated into bread. In South Africa, termites are utilized in cornmeal porridge.

Delicious worms, also known as grubs.

Fire-roasted tarantulas are common in Latin America, and who hasn’t toyed with the agave worm, tempting you at the bottom of mezcal liquor in Mexico?

In fact, Americans and most European countries are in a minority when it comes to their consumption of these earthly delights. Apparently, after Europe developed into an agrarian society, insects were viewed as the culprit to crops. Can’t eat the enemy, I guess.

But we’re often conditioned against eating certain things. What child would dream of eating snails, frog’s legs or uni? But as the palate matures, tastes change. And now it was my turn to up the ante. How tough could this be?

A tamer catfish.

So, we embarked upon a local place, rumored to have some of the best insects in town, the heralded Typhoon Restaurant overlooking the Santa Monica Airport. It’s a Pan-Asian place, featuring cuisine from countries like China, Korea, Thailand and many surrounding areas. It’s also one of the few places in town that serves grubs and bugs. Voila!

There they are, printed right in the middle of the menu. I had my first glass of wine to get me prepared. We began with the Taiwanese crickets, and they were quite tasty. They’re stir-fried and include raw garlic, chili pepper and Asian basil. Honestly, it was like inhaling a crop of potato chips, reminding me of having a picnic on the beach. So what if there were a few brown critters in the mix? They were crunchy, just like the rest of the dish. What’s next?

Wouldn't want to tackle a bug this size!

Along came the Thai-style sea worms, deep-fried on top of baby lettuce leaves, with ginger, chile pepper, peanuts, lime, and accompanied with a tamarind dipping sauce. I love escargot, so maybe worms would be similar to snails. This was a beautiful presentation; the tangy little worms hardly a reason for squeamishness. The dish was quite hot though. If the worms weren’t already dead, that sauce would have demolished them for sure.

I’m still here, so let’s bring on the Singapore-style scorpions, which were smiling at me on top of shrimp toast. I had already visualized this one, pretending the scorpions were baby lobsters. I love lobster, and that fantasy seemed to work well, especially since I had taken another stiff sip of my cabernet before I looked closely at the little darlings Don’t scorpions kill people? What am I thinking? Then, the plate came, and in three bites, those little suckers were gone No stinger, no poison, just a good fishy-like sandwich. I think my gal pal Erika might have even used one of them for a toothpick.

We survived, and are here to tell the tale. I’d like to up the stakes next time when I have the opportunity to go for bugs. How about some large locusts, spiders or something else from a Stephen King novel?

Anyone care to join me?

For more information:

How to eat scorpions for survival

Cool bug recipes