Theres a big bug in Thailand the Thais call mang da. GIs called it a baht bug and here in the states its the giant water bug. Everyone said Thais eat them. During a certain season hundreds of them were attracted to the very bright lights we used at night on the flightline. They flew around and smacked into people or airplanes and fell to the pavement. They crawled all over the flightline. Some guys collected the bugs in Ziploc bags with a few holes punched in them. I was curious and was told Thais love the bugs but the best place to catch them was the flightline. I collected the bugs and gave them as tips to cocktail waitresses at the NCO club. They were much appreciated. Id never seen a Thai eat one, though. I had no clue how they were eaten or how they tasted except that males were more prized than females. Eventually I was renting a house in town where I had a kitchen and a housegirl so I collected and brought home a sack of bugs and asked the housegirl to prepare them for me. As far as I know she just pulled off their wings and fried them, then she handed me a plate of bugs. I took the plate and asked how to eat them. She got a little irritated by the question and said why do you have to ask me that? Just eat them! I popped a bug in my mouth and started chewing. They were very crunchy. The exoskeleton was hard and tasteless. It was an unpleasant experience. The housegirl made a disgusted and horrified face and said, Nobody eats them like that! Now I was irritated. I spit out the bug and asked how then do I eat them? She showed me to break off the abdomen and to put it between my teeth to squeeze out the insides as I drew it from my mouth. So the only part eaten was the soft inside of the abdomen. That was much more pleasant and surprising. I could taste the difference between females and males. Females were like a tiny morsel of ground beef with black pepper. Males had less in them, volume-wise but were extremely pungent with a very surprising flavor. It reminded me of the flavor of green Fanta -- a sort of aromatic sweet flavor, so strong it was in my sinuses, behind my eyeballs, in my head. Wow! The housegirl had none. Apparently not all Thais eat them. I also heard they are eaten in different ways. Im glad I tried them.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:37:11 +0000
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