The curiosities of food

by P. L. Simmonds

The large kinds of locust are made use of in several quarters as food, and in the markets of the Levant fresh and salted locusts are vended. Hasselquist tells us, that when corn is scarce, the Arabians grind the locusts in hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars, and bake them as bread; and that even when there is no scarcity of corn, the Arabs stew them with butter and make them into a kind of a fricassée, the flavour of which is by no means disagreeable. Why should land shrimp sauce not be equal to sea shrimp sauce?

Locusts, Cumming tells us, afford fattening and wholesome food to man, birds, and all sorts of beasts. The hungry dogs and hogs feed greedily on them,—so that there are plenty of enemies to prey in time upon these wholesale depredators. Young turkeys live almost entirely on them in some parts of America, and become very fat when they are plentiful. Hence, if so many animals thrive upon them, they must necessarily be dainty food.

It is not only by the inhabitants of the Great Desert that the locusts are hailed with joy. The Kafirs also give them a hearty welcome, and make many a good meal upon them too,—not only eating them in large quantities, but making a sort of coffee-colored soup of their eggs.

Locusts are cooked in various ways—roasted, boiled, and fried. They are also salted and smoked, and packed away against a time of scarcity. It is said, they taste very much like fish, and are particularly light, delicate, and wholesome food. They are carried into many of the towns of Africa by waggon-loads, as we bring poultry to market.

The Hottentots are highly rejoiced at the arrival of the locusts in their country, although they destroy all its verdure, eating them in such quantities as to get visibly fatter than before, and making of their eggs a brown or coffee-coloured soup.

In the Mahratta country in India, the common people salt and eat them. This was anciently the custom with many of the African nations, some of whom also smoked them.

Dishes of locusts are generally served up at the principal tables in Barbary, and esteemed a great delicacy. They are preferred by the Moors to pigeons; and a person may eat a plateful of 200 or 300 without feeling any ill effects. They usually boil them in water half-an-hour, having thrown away the head, wings, and legs, then sprinkle them with salt and pepper and fry them, adding a little vinegar.

Another traveller describes the way they are prepared for food in the desert of Zahara.—‘In and about this valley were great flights of locusts. During the day, they are flying around very thickly in the atmosphere; but the copious dews and chilly air in the night render them unable to fly, and they settle down on the bushes. It was the constant employment of the natives in the night to gather these insects from the bushes, which they did in great quantities. My master’s family, each with a small bag, went out the first night upon this employment, carrying a very large bag to bring home the fruits of their labor. My mistress, Fatima, however, and the two little children, remained in the tent. I declined this employment, and retired to rest under the large tent. The next day, the family returned loaded with locusts, and, judging by the eye of the quantity produced, there must have been about fifteen bushels. This may appear to be a large quantity to be gathered in so short a time, but it is scarcely worth mentioning when compared with the loads of them gathered, sometimes, in the more fertile part of the country over which they pass, leaving a track of desolation behind them. But as they were the first, in any considerable quantity, that I had seen, and the first I had seen cooked and eaten, I mention it in this place, hoping hereafter to give my readers more particular information concerning these wonderful and destructive insects, which, from the days of Moses to this time, have been considered, by Jews and Mahometans, as the most severe judgment which Heaven can inflict upon man. But, whatever the Egyptians might have thought in ancient days, or the Moors and Arabs in those of modern date, the Arabs who are compelled to inhabit the desert of Zahara, so far from considering a flight of locusts as a judgment upon them for their transgressions, welcome their approach as the means, sometimes, of saving them from famishing with hunger. The whole that were brought to the tent at this time were cooked while alive, as indeed they always are, for a dead locust is never cooked. The manner of cooking is by digging a deep hole in the ground, building a fire at the bottom, as before described, and filling it up with wood. After it is heated as hot as is possible, the coals and embers are taken out, and they prepare to fill the cavity with the locusts, confined in a large bag. A sufficient number of the natives hold the bag perpendicularly over the hole, the mouth of it being near the surface of the ground. A number stand round the hole with sticks. The mouth of the bag is then opened, and it is shaken with great force, the locusts falling into the hot pit, and the surrounding natives throwing sand upon them to prevent them from flying off. The mouth of the hole is then covered with sand, and another fire built upon the top of it. In this manner they cook all they have on hand, and dig a number of holes sufficient to accomplish it, each containing about five bushels. They remain in the hole until they become sufficiently cooled to be taken out with the hand. They are then picked out, and thrown upon tent-cloths or blankets, and remain in the sun to dry, where they must be watched with the utmost care to prevent the live locusts from devouring them, if a flight happens to be passing at the time. When they are perfectly dried, which is not done short of two or three days, they are slightly pounded, and pressed into bags or skins, ready for transportation. To prepare them to eat, they are pulverized in mortars, and mixed with water sufficient to make a kind of dry pudding. They are, however, sometimes eaten singly, without pulverizing, by breaking off the head, wings, and legs, and swallowing the remaining part. In whatever manner they are eaten, they are nourishing food.’

Captain Stockenstrom, in a paper in the South African Journal on these insects, observes, ‘Not only the locust-bird, but every animal, domestic and wild, contributes to the destruction of the locust swarms; fowls, sheep, horses, dogs, antelopes, and almost every living thing, may be seen devouring them with equal greediness; whilst the half-starved Bushmen, and even some of the colonial Hottentots, consider them a great luxury, consuming great quantities fresh, and drying abundance for future emergencies. Great havoc is also committed among the locusts by their own kindred; for as soon as any one of them gets hurt, or meets with an accident which impedes his progress, his fellow travellers nearest to him immediately turn upon him, and devour him with great voracity.’

Mr. Moffat (Missionary Labours in South Africa) states—‘The locusts for food are always caught at night, when they are at rest, and carried in sacks to the nearest encampment or village, to be prepared for keeping. A very small quantity of water is put into a pot, and the locusts, piled up to the very brim, are covered very closely, so that they are rather steamed than boiled. They are next carefully separated and laid out to dry, which the heat of an Arabian or African sun does thoroughly and speedily; after which they are winnowed to get rid of the wings and legs, when they are laid up in heaps, or packed in bags of skin for future use. Sometimes the dry locusts are beaten into a powder, of which, with water and a little salt, a kind of pottage is made.’