Silkworm sashimi, cricket curry on menu as bugs make a comeback in Japan

Intage Holdings

26/07/2023 02:01

TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) - On a recent vacation in
Tokyo, Takumi Yamamoto opted for a special lunch of cricket
curry and silkworm sashimi, washed down with a water bug cider.
    The 26-year-old office worker, from the western prefecture
of Hyogo, is one of scores of consumers across the world who
have taken an interest in entomophagy, or eating insects, as
bugs slowly become a more viable food source.
    As a child, Yamamoto said he sometimes snacked on soy-sauce
basted grasshoppers. In Tokyo, he indulged in insect cuisine at
Take-Noko cafe, which embraces all things buggy.
    "It's fun to select from a wider variety of dishes,"
Yamamoto said at the cozy second-floor cafe, surrounded by
insect art and terrariums of skittering beetles, ants and
cockroaches.
    "Everything was tasty. In particular, the water bug cider
was quite refreshing and delicious, like a green apple."
    Entomophagy started to be taken seriously globally after the
United Nations deemed bugs a sustainable source of protein to
feed a global population estimated to swell to 9.7 billion by
2050.
    The impact of the livestock industry on climate change,
coupled with global food security issues due to extreme weather
and conflicts, have also increased the interest in the
high-quality, economical nutrition that bugs provide.
    While some consumers think eating insects is just gross,
Japan has a rich culinary history of insects as food.
    Grasshoppers, silkworms, and wasps were traditionally eaten
in land-locked regions where meat and fish are scarce, a
practice that picked up amid food shortages during and after
World War II, said Take-Noko manager Michiko Miura.
    "Recently, there have been advances in rearing things like
crickets and mealworms for food, so the possibility of using
insects as ingredients is really growing," she added.
    Several companies, including national bakery brand Pasco,
have sold made cakes and snacks from cricket flour, and
processed food maker Nichirei and telecom Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone have invested in bug ventures in the past year.
    The term "crickets" also started to trend in Japanese media
recently after reports the powdered insects were being used in
school lunches and snacks.
    Consumer interest has also extended to Take-Noko, which
manager Miura says is often fully booked on weekends.
    Its curry is studded crickets in meatball form and dried
garnish. The delicate "sashimi" is the left-over casing of
silkworms, and the cider is infused with water bug extract and
topped with a whole insect, said to taste like shrimp.
    The restaurant is the brainchild of Takeo Saito who founded
his namesake company Takeo Inc nine years ago and has grown it
to include packaged food business offering more than 60 types of
arthropod treats, from scorpions to tarantulas.
    "Our aim is not for insects to be something separate, but to
be enjoyed at the same table as vegetables, fish, and meat,"
said Saito.

 (Reporting by Rocky Swift and Tom Bateman; editing by Miral
Fahmy)
 ((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))