Eat Your Grasshoppers

Emily Chaplin's Mexican homestay involved a peculiar yet crunchy snack.

I had been duly warned. But somehow, when relaxing outdoors admiring a serene mountain view, the offer of a handful of roasted grasshoppers still managed to catch me off guard. Eyes closed, I reached out my hand, threw the selected victim into my mouth, and crunched.

So began my initiation into the distinctive food culture of Oaxaca, Mexico, where I spent four days this past week living with a family in the rural village of Santa Catarina Minas.  

During my stay, I experienced the joy of being served a steaming bowl of hot chocolate accompanied by sweet breads for dipping--as an appetizer, for breakfast. Delicious, freshly squeezed fruit juices accompanied each lunch, the largest meal of the day. And with every meal, local ingredients were employed in abundance--from the crumbled goat cheese to the handmade (and hand-milled) soft corn tortillas to the avocados I picked myself.  

Shots of locally produced mezcal also proliferated. The Maguey plant (akin to the Agave) is revered in Oaxaca, and the resulting fermented beverage is believed to offer numerous health benefits, including serving as a digestive aid. "Just a little bit, every day," encouraged one of the brothers in my family, likely noting my uneasy smile as I confronted the glass placed before me at 9 a.m.  "A little bit," in this case, was a decidedly relative characterization.

Post originale: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2010/11/eat-your-grasshoppers.html