I went out to dinner with my friend Carlos. (Mexicans eat late…8:30!!) We went to a very nice Mexican restaurant and as an appetizer he suggested the fried grasshoppers. So being, you know, all friendly with the natives and wanting to fit in (as if my sombrero, serape, poncho and huaraches weren’t already doing the trick) I said, “Sure, fine, excellentemente!!” as brightly as I could muster.
The dish arrived, I wish I could recall what the name of it was (so I can run screaming from the restaurant if I see it on the menu again). And it looked innocent enough if you didn’t look too hard at it. Delicious almost. So I dug in. The taste of it was good. But it was covered with things I like, cilantro, onion, lime, avocado. The grasshoppers added a nice crunch but what was a little off putting was the texture of the wings and legs. They reminded me of those things that are in apple cores and are impossible to masticate.
Then one of the legs got stuck on the back of my tongue. I’m pretty sure the sombrero hid the look on my face as I gag/choked on it. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t finish. Carlos ate his though. Brave man.
Like I said, it was delicious almost.
