{"id":723,"date":"2010-05-19T07:31:31","date_gmt":"2010-05-19T14:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thaibugs.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=723"},"modified":"2010-05-19T07:31:31","modified_gmt":"2010-05-19T14:31:31","slug":"its-a-bugs-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/?page_id=723","title":{"rendered":"It&#039;s a bug&#039;s life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"heading-panel\">\n<div id=\"headergroup\">\n<h2>It&#8217;s a bug&#8217;s life<\/h2>\n<h3>Love them or loathe them, they&#8217;re big business and they&#8217;re  here to stay<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Published:  9\/05\/2010 at 12:00 AM<\/li>\n<li>Newspaper section: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/advance-search\/?papers_sec_id=14\">Spectrum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- end headergroup --><\/p>\n<div id=\"main-sns\">\n<div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n              tweetmeme_url = window.location;\n              tweetmeme_service = 'digg.com';\n              tweetmeme_source = \"BPgeneralnews\";\n\/\/ ]]><\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p><!-- end tweetmeme_button --><\/p>\n<div><script src=\"http:\/\/widgets.fbshare.me\/files\/fbshare.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p><!-- end facebook-wall --><\/div>\n<p><!-- end main-sns --><\/div>\n<p><!-- end heading-panel -->Insects have been a food source for people  around the world for thousands of years. And while entomophagy, or the  practice of eating insects, is uncommon in Western countries, it  continues to be popular in developing regions such as Africa, Central  and South America and Asia. There are about 2,000 species around the  world that can be safely consumed.<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140872.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>PHOTOS: PORNPROM SARTTARBHAYA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In Asia, insects are popular in Cambodia, China and Vietnam. In  Thailand, locals eat about 150 types of insect, including crickets, silk  worms and dung beetles. Edible insects are readily available at markets  or from street vendors. They are popular not only for their nutritional  content, but also for their crunchy texture and taste.<\/p>\n<p>Almost every foreigner walking past a cart filled with trays  containing different kinds of fried insect finds it hard to resist  pausing to take a closer look, and wondering just what the strange  delicacies are.<\/p>\n<p>The more adventurous may be offered a free sample by the bug seller  or even a customer, wanting to see their reaction.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many Thais love to eat insects, but some won&#8217;t touch them because  they think they&#8217;re dirty, unhygienic and carry disease. From time to  time, people say this to me, but if I can convince them to just try one,  they usually stop complaining,&#8221; said Mr Vinai, who has been selling  insects along Sukhumvit Road for many years.<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140873.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>HOLIDAY TREAT: Two tourists see what\u2019s on offer at Mrs Lumyai\u2019s stall  on Khao San Road.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a perception &#8211; and this is even stated on various websites &#8211;  that insects are only eaten by bargirls from the North or Northeast of  Thailand. But it&#8217;s totally false, because middle- and upper-class  people, some driving expensive cars, often stop and buy insects.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Vinai usually arrives with his food cart in Sukhumvit Soi 24 at  around 10pm, and carries on selling his insects until 2am.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Business is good here because most of my customers are regulars,  employed by nearby hotels. When they finish their shift, they come to  buy insects,&#8221; Mr Vinai said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I send my friends to buy the insects at Klong Toey wholesale market,  and I keep them in a refrigerator, but someone else fries them for me,&#8221;  he added.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Samran, a frequent customer, said: &#8220;I like to eat insects very  much. They are cheap, delicious, nutritious and also good for the  libido. After finishing work at 10pm, I stop here on the way home and  buy about 20 baht of insects.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140875.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>ON THE SHELF: Ms Ratee\u2019s tinned insects, left, and with customised  labels, below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He, like many others, usually eats his insects on the spot, while  chatting with Mr Vinai and other customers.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Lumyai, who has been selling insects on Khao San Road for about  20 years, also buys her products at Klong Toey market, and goes there in  the early morning. She cooks the insects herself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I sell from 6pm until 2am. My customers are equally split between  foreigners and Thais. They all like them a lot, and I&#8217;ve had no  complaints.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said that the best selling insects are grasshoppers, silkworms,  ants and crickets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;However, because the political unrest is keeping tourists away,  business has been way down in recent months, not only for me, but other  vendors as well,&#8221; Mrs Lumyai complained.<\/p>\n<p>WHOLESALE MARKET<\/p>\n<p>A visit to Klong Toey market is quite an experience. There are many  vendors selling a wide variety of fresh produce, including vegetables,  poultry, live fish, yellow frogs and edible insects.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Sakhon has been wholesaling insects with two of her relatives for  about 10 years.<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140876.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>WHOLESALE PRODUCE: Mrs Sakhon\u2019s stall in Klong Toey market sells  insects from all around the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I open at midnight and close around 9am. Three other wholesale shops  nearby open at the same time, but close before 6am.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We sell about 100kg of insects every day. Our customers are street  vendors who come themselves or who place orders by phone, which we  deliver to them,&#8221; Mrs Sakhon said.<\/p>\n<p>She sells 12 types of insects from Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam, as  well as Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have an agent who buys them for us at markets like Talat Rong  Kluea in Sa Kaeo province bordering Cambodia and also in Mae Sot in Tak  province, near the Burmese border.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We sometimes buy insects at Talat Thai in Pathum Thani province. You  often see Burmese and Cambodian people delivering insects there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said one of the most popular Thai insects is called sading (a  small cricket), which is bred on farms in Lop Buri, Khon Kaen, Roi Et  and Korat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I sell dead insects, but when they are delivered to Talat Rong  Kluea, which is the biggest insect market in Thailand, only live insects  fetch a good price. If they&#8217;re dead they fetch much less, and sometimes  can&#8217;t be sold at all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The insects are caught mainly in Cambodia and no poison is used, as  some claim, because the traders at the market won&#8217;t really buy dead  insects.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>FAMILY BUSINESS<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140877.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/><\/div>\n<p>If you go to Phitsanulok in northern Thailand, a visit to the  Ruammalang mobile edible insect cart found in front of the Rachaphruk  Hotel is well worth your time. They have been selling various types of  insects for almost 22 years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We display edible insects on trays, which guarantees that many  tourists, especially foreigners, stop and try them,&#8221; said Thongchart  Nusu, who started the business about 25 years ago, but is now making  sausages and meatballs, and has passed the insect business on to his 22  year-old daughter, Ms Ratee.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I open at 4pm and close at 11pm every day. We wash the insects with  water and let them dry. Then we boil them and deep fry them in clean oil  until crispy, and season with sugar, salt, Magi and so on. We cook them  every day, so they&#8217;re fresh every day. We also tin our insects for sale  locally, but we&#8217;re not yet ready to export them,&#8221; Ms Ratee said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve became a tourist attraction. Many tour groups, whether Thai or  foreign come to our place to see the cooking process and to taste them  as well. Most people like the taste and buy a tin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;However, business has dropped compared to four years ago. It started  to pick up again a few months ago, but after the political situation  worsened, especially in Bangkok, business has gone down again,&#8221; Ms Ratee  said.<\/p>\n<p>She said that three or four years ago she could make 20,000 baht a  day, but now she makes less than 8,000 baht a day.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I sell about 10 kinds of insect,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They originate from  various places such as bamboo worms from Laos and China, Bombay locusts  from Talat Rong Kluea and giant water bugs from Burma and Cambodia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I get most of the insects from Cambodia, but in Thailand I can get  bamboo worms from the North, silkworms from the silk factories in  Phetchabun and crickets from Khon Kaen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most popular are the bamboo worms, silkworms, Bombay locusts and  the giant water bugs. The most expensive are bamboo worms, and I buy  most of the insects from Talat Rong Kluea,&#8221; Miss Ratee said.<\/p>\n<div><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/media\/content\/20100509\/140874.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to improve the business and attract new customers with  innovations such as taking pictures of customers and printing them as  labels for the tins of insects. I sell two types of tinned insects. One  has bamboo worms for 100 baht, and the other is mixed insects for 50  baht. We do the tinning at home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said that about 90% of her foreign customers come from France,  with the rest from other European countries and the US. As for Asian  tourists, some are from South Korea and Japan, but there are very few  compared to the Europeans. She has never seen a Chinese tourist at her  stall.<\/p>\n<p>FALLING SALES<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Rujirej sells edible insects in the southern city of Hat Yai. She  has a small shop with a few tables near to the bus station.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been selling insects for about eight years. Before that I  worked as a labourer on building sites. I sell about 10 kinds of insects  these days, down from 15 in the past. Business started to drop about  four years ago because of competition and fewer tourists,&#8221; Mrs Rujirej  said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I used to sell at least 80kg of silkworms, 50kg of Bombay locusts  and 7,000 to 8,000 giant water bugs, but now I can sell only about 10kg  of silkworms, 5kg of Bombay locusts and no giant water bugs at all  because they are too expensive.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I buy everything at Talat Rong Kluea. I used to go there myself  because it was worthwhile but since the business is not so profitable  the insects are delivered to us on the public bus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Salern Mui, who lives in Cambodia, has been selling insects at Talat  Rong Kluea for 20 years. She crosses the border every morning and  returns in the evening.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This market is the biggest for edible insects in Thailand, with more  than 100 stalls, including 50 big ones. About 90% of the insects sold  here come from Cambodia and the rest are local,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Bombay locusts are the most popular insects, normally available from  May to September, but as they are very popular, they&#8217;re stored in  freezers and sold all year round. Bombay locusts come mainly from Pailin  province in Cambodia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As with other edible insects, Bombay locusts are caught mainly at  night. People in Pailin catch Bombay locusts with their bare hands in  cornfields. Many people, sometimes hundreds, will catch them because  it&#8217;s extra income for them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Salern said that most of the insects from Cambodia are still  alive when they reach the market. Dead or spoiled insects will turn red  and are not saleable.<\/p>\n<p>NOT ENTIRELY RISK-FREE<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Public Health warns that those with allergies or  asthma should avoid eating insects because they may contain high levels  of histamine, a protein involved in many allergic reactions. In the case  of a serious allergy, the result may be fatal.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Suphan Srithamma, a spokesmen for the Ministry of Public Health,  says that the consumption of insects in Thailand is increasing.  Originally, insects were consumed mainly by country people who grilled  or fried them, or used them in salads or soups, but nowadays insects are  eaten as a snack.<\/p>\n<p>However, even though insects are high in nutrients, they can be  contaminated with pesticides.<\/p>\n<p>The Thai Health Promotion Foundation also warns that people who have  allergies avoid eating silkworms and wasp grubs, because they may result  in fatal allergic reactions. And several medical practitioners  contacted by Spectrum warned that patients with allergies should avoid  eating fried insects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a bug&#8217;s life Love them or loathe them, they&#8217;re big business and they&#8217;re here to stay Published: 9\/05\/2010 at 12:00 AM Newspaper section: Spectrum Insects have been a food source for people around the world for thousands of years. And while entomophagy, or the practice of eating insects, is uncommon in Western countries, it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":713,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/723\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}