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Yum, cicadas!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The bug-kebabs at the Wangfujing Night Market
I had a busy day today, working on a few stories for next week while filing my daily dispatches. I didn’t have time for a proper meal but no fear. The cicadas at the Wangfujing Night Market are pre-cooked, ready to grab and go.
The creepy eats are a highlight of the market, a colorful and bustling street scene right next to a very modern mall that wouldn’t look out of place in Alpharetta.
Well, except for some of the menu items in the food court:
Anyway, back to the market. You can buy every conceivable Chinese knick-knack here, from decorative chopsticks to silk handbags to little Buddha statues. A vendor playing from an instrument that resembled an eggplant-shaped wooden added a soothing backdrop to the din of shoppers.
Although the Night Market is on every tourist map of Beijing, it seemed like a mostly local crowd when I went tonight. If there were 1,000 people on the street I’d guess 100 of them were Olympics visitors.
The food vendors do a brisk business selling grilled corn, coconut milk, baked goods and meat and chicken on wooden skewers, grilled to order. Then there are the rows of cooked cicadas and other items we might not think of eating in the United States. I bought a seahorse on a stick, which I thought it looked sort of cute.
As it turns out I wasn’t hungry after all so I offered it to a knick-knack vendor named Yi Ming Xie.
“It’s very good,” she said. “It’s salty. Crunchy.”
Then she looked at me like I was nuts for passing up perfectly good seahorse.
“You don’t eat it? Why?”
I told her I was on a diet.
Yi Ming Xie digs in. That’s her friend Wong Ya Liu to her left.
Incidentally if you’re interested in the nutritional content of cicadas (or other pertinent facts) the Cincinnati Enquirer devoted serious research time to them a few years ago. This article tells you all you need to know about cicadas, whether you plan to eat them or just listen to them sing at night. I think I’ll stick with the latter.
Comments
By Lindsay
August 18, 2008 2:51 PM | Link to this
Thanks for all your stories of the Olympics and their ATL ties, SB! As always- we’ve enjoyed them all!
By Lindsay
August 18, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this
As always, great stories and experiences, SB! Love all the ties to the ATL!
By Grant Parker
August 20, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
CRUNCH! I am told that insects are loaded with protein and other good stuff. But I am going to take the experts’ word on that…
By Jennifer Brett
August 21, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this
I’m with you, Grant!