Fried insects? EWWWWW

As we walked down “Snack Street” in Beijing, I saw the familiar rows of food vendors that you see in any metropolitan cities tourist districts. The wafting scent of fried goods filled the air and Chinese people everywhere were eating all kinds of treats on long bamboo skewers. But when I looked closer at the various kinds of meats on the skewer, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The first recognizable meats were sea horse, cricket, and then a starfish.  Both were a little bizarre, but who would eat them?  They’re mostly skeletal and I can’t imagine there’d be much meat.  A French man had just taken a bite of one and told me that it tasted just like French fries. Go figure!

But then we came across SCORPIONS, CENTIPEDES, and TARANTULAS. Sorry, but that completely creeped me out. 

I stood looking at them with horror on my face and when I brought out my camera to take a photo, the vendor shooed me away with her cardboard sign. Maybe it’s just because I have been sensitized to eating cows, pigs, chickens and ducks, but not to insects. 

Then again, there are predictions that human civilization may need to eat insects to survive.  But, this California girl is not quite ready for that.