A Local Thai Delicacy

Today I tasted a local Thai delicacy at lunch - a short story that I think deserves its own post. As I went to the buffet for lunch after teaching two classes, I went through each meal with a teacher and she told me that none of them had pork in it. I then went back, got a plate, got some sticky rice, and went straight for the fish soup. As I am about to put the serving spoon into the dish, I notice some black dots floating around. As I look closer, I discovered ants with wings floating at the top of the soup. I joked to the teacher that in America this would mean that the meal is on the house. She laughed and told me that ants are a delicacy here, high in protein, bitter and flavorful, and more expensive than pretty much any other food around here.

I have been saying no to a lot of food, primarily because it has pork in it, but also to things like chicken feet, shark, octopus, and liver. I also realized that I haven't even tried anything all too new, so in a spur of the moment decision I decided to try one ant. I have two witnesses for any nonbeliever. I ate it with a good amount of sticky rice so I could barely taste it, but ants taste almost exactly as one would expect them to.

I know that it sounds weird to eat an ant, but here it was nothing special - I tried to brag to people and they didn't understand why I was telling them that. In rural Thailand there is little protein and people make do with what they have. Westerners may find this attitude "gross," but food isn't wasted here - something that is very common in the United States and an attitude I appreciate. Nonetheless, I think that this will be the extent of my "adventures" in the culinary world of Thailand, leaving the truly adventuresome to taste rat, dog, cat, snake, spider, and flash fried scorpion.

On another note, I taught my first full class today completely by myself. I taught English to the 5th graders for an hour. Back to Bangkok and the U.S. on Tuesday!