A Bug is Still a Bug

Yes, this is a grasshopper. Nsenene is what they are called here. You know me...it’s bad enough that this thing is jumping around just acting like a bug. But here they are also a delicacy. Uh huh. Food. Snack. Something you would send your husband out for in the middle of the night when you’re pregnant and having cravings.
But a bug is still a bug. Right? It’s grasshopper season right now in Uganda. There are guys carrying large containers of these things everywhere you look selling them. Typically they just walk right on by the mzungu car. They’ve learned. We’re just not cool enough to want to eat grasshoppers.

Mike and I made a pact a while back, before we knew better; before we knew grasshoppers were a delicacy; we would ‘try’ anything any local person gave us to eat.

How bad could it be? We weren’t very ‘africanized’ then.

They catch them like this: They put traps up at night after it gets totally dark out. They use 14 foot long aluminum sheeting and have lights set up shining on the sheeting. The light attracts the bug...they fly into the metal sheets, knock themselves silly and fall into big barrels at the bottom of the sheets which are filled with water.

Then they are deep fried and you just can’t get enough of them. Uh huh.

Recently we were in the home of some very sweet people here. And after being in Uganda nearly eight months, we were finally eyeball to eyeball with a plate of fried grasshoppers. Our hosts offered them up quite freely; and Mike and I stood there staring, with our mouths hanging open.

I poked them. I smelled them. I looked at one of the kids who had just finished an entire bowl of them...much like we would eat potato chips. He looked ok. Everyone was watching us, and my husband, who really will eat just about anything...except strange food in Uganda, was not even encouraging me to go for it. “But we said we’d try it, dear; everyone is watching,” I whispered.

Our cute little hostess suggested trying a small, brown one...”they will be the crunchiest” she said. As opposed to, what? A mushy bug? Oh this was not going to be easy.

We fished around for the smallest, brownest, crunchiest one. I picked it up and looked at it...it was looking back. I tried hiding the little face by putting my finger over it...but I still knew the little face was there.

The tiniest member of the family kept saying, “just eat it. They are quite good.”
Okay Deb. Stop over thinking it. Just put it in your mouth, I was saying to myself. Alasdair says, “I will count to ten. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;” ”wait a minute; start over please.” Alasdair; sigh; "1, 2, 3, 4,...”

Everyone else had become bored staring at us. It’s just a bug after all. Now is my chance to just put it in my mouth. Here goes. Crunch. Crunch. Oh, I’m eating a buuug. Hmmm. Tastes very fishy. I looked at Mike. He was trying to swallow his bug.

Feeling quite proud of myself for eating a bug and not offending our hosts, I held the plate out to them, relieved I hadn’t passed out or puked, and said, “Not terrible. Here you go.” Hosts: “Oh, no, we don’t eat those. They’re bugs. Just our oldest son enjoys them." T.I.A.