VIETNAM LAUNCHES INSECT FOOD

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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/26/259.html

Tuesday, September 26, 2006. Issue 3505.

Vietnam's Insects Hit the Spot

By Grant McCool

Reuters

 

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- Would you like your crickets deep fried and

crispy? Peppered and presented in a neat circle on a bed of green leaves?

 

Breeders of crickets say the insects have become " finger food for beer

drinkers " in an age of increasing prosperity in Vietnam compared with the

past, when they might have been food for the hungry or for wartime soldiers

surviving in the jungle.

 

Businessman Le Thanh Tung raises hundreds of thousands of the flying insects

in barrels and sells them to restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, the Southeast

Asian country's largest urban area, or to other breeders in neighboring

provinces. " The taste is very particular, very special, and it smells good

and tastes delicious, but it is very difficult to compare cricket to other

meat, " said Tung, 28, suggesting that crickets are an acquired taste.

 

At his small farm and restaurant about 25 kilometers west of the city

center, a plastic-covered menu with photographs of cricket dishes offers

" young crickets deep fried, " " cricket salad, " " breaded cricket, " " cricket

noodle " and " peppered cricket. "

 

Back in the hot kitchen of the farm's brick-faced, tin-roofed building,

Tung's sister-in-law, Huynh Thi Oanh Kieu, scoops up a colander of crickets

from a plastic basin and gently releases them into boiling oil. They sizzle

and smoke for five to 10 minutes and she pulls them out.

 

Crunchy crickets are ready.

 

Tung gives his guests six dishes of crickets of various sizes, shapes and

colors nestled on long yellow noodles, or battered, or stood on their legs

atop a dark-green salad. " Tasty, " said driver Nguyen Trong Thanh, after

gingerly picking up a deep-fried cricket with his chopsticks, dipping it in

spicy fish sauce and then into his mouth. " This is the first time I've eaten

it, and I'm surprised it's that good. "

 

Crickets are harmless, but Tung also breeds scorpions and venomous giant

centipedes. They are two other insects considered delicacies at some

restaurants in the nearby city.

 

The story of Tung and his insects is also one of a young entrepreneur who

said he had struggled to make a living breeding rabbits and other animals

and growing vegetables. He also tried working on construction sites, but

hours were long and wages relatively low. In this country of 83 million with

per capita annual income of just $640, Tung's cricket business changed his

life as his earnings rose way above average.

 

His business grosses an estimated 90 million dong ($5,625) per month, before

paying salaries to 12 workers and other costs. Tung said buyers paid 250,000

dong ($15) to 450,000 dong per kilogram of crickets, and that he could sell

about 300 kilograms per month. By comparison, one kilogram of chicken costs

70,000 dong.

 

" There's a niche in the market, demand is potentially big, " Tung said.