Not long after we moved to Chiang Mai I stopped to shop in Makro, one of the local big-box stores, like a Costco, where food and other goods are sold in bulk and one must have a membership to take advantage of the savings offered there. I was thrilled to see the size of the frozen food section, large by any standard, and significantly larger than any I have seen so far in Asia. I thought to myself "surely in a frozen food section of this size I will find a large selection of chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas and french fries, the children's preferred cuisine." I walked among row after row of the cases and soon found that this was not to be. (Fear not, my healthy eating friends, in the absence of said foods I have resolved to start making more from scratch. Cheaper, healthier, a bit more time consuming, but definitely worth it in the end.)
According to a May article in the Washington Post titled "
Should we eat more insects? The U.N. thinks so" by Brad Plumer, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization has recommended that "insects are healthy, nutritious alternatives to mainstream staples such as chicken, pork, beef, and even fish". The article further argues that "edible insects are environmentally friendly - farmers don't need to clear acres of forest to raise them and the bugs produce fewer planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions than, say, cows. It could be a sustainable way to help feed a growing world whose demand for protein is soaring."
Most of the articles that I have found on the report are quick to point out that, given the Western aversion to eating bugs, perhaps the U.N. leaders sponsoring and publishing the report should lead by example but I can safely say that Chiang Mai is already on the bandwagon. In all those cases of frozen goods I found no pizza, no chicken nuggets and only half a case full of french fries. What I did find is the following: (You may need to enlarge the photos to get the full effect)
No, "Grasshopper" is not a brand name, it is the contents of the package. Perhaps you would prefer SaGu, which appears to be big, fat, roly-poly (perhaps some would say "juicy"?) grubs.
Better yet, perhaps some caterpillar?
And last but not least, for your gastronomic pleasure, some free-range "Giant water bugs" that look large enough to carry off a small child, if not properly supervised when thawed.
Sadly, I realize that I did not get pictures of the freezer full of about 4 different kids of frozen frogs. (There actually was a "No Photographs" sign up, I just pretended I was using my phone to write a text and oops! snapshot!) Although I do have to say that I think the kids find the supermarket here to be a bit boring. Used to be, while living in China, they asked to be parked in the fresh "fish" section while I shopped in the adjacent fruit/veggie section, so that they could watch the live fish, turtles, frogs and eels swirl around their tanks. I think perhaps they just thought "Hey, Carrefour has a pet section". I don't know if they realized that the people picking out that big turtle were not taking it home to name it Myrtle. They never asked, I never offered.
Perhaps this is not the time to insert my usual plea for visitors. But if you promise to come visit us, I promise not to serve you grasshoppers. Or Caterpillars. Or giant waterbugs....Quite seriously, the bugs found in the freezer cases aside, is Thailand not known for it's awesome food? Come for a visit and we'll treat you to some GREAT food!
Hugs and love to you all~
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