The curiosities of food

by P. L. Simmonds

Mr. R. Gordon Cumming, in the course of his rambles in Africa, fell in with swarms of locusts, and gives interesting accounts respecting them. Here are some extracts from his work:—

‘The next day, as we crossed a vast plain, a flight of locusts passed over our heads during upwards of half-an-hour, flying so thick as to darken the sun. They reached in dark clouds as far as we could see, and maintained an elevation of from 6 to 300 or 400 feet above the level of the plain. Woe to the vegetation of the country on which they alight! * *

‘On the march we crossed a swarm of locusts, resting for the night on the grass and bushes. They lay so thick that the waggons could have been filled with them in a very short time, covering the large bushes just as a swarm of young bees covers the branch on which it pitches. Locusts afford fattening and wholesome food to man, birds, and all sorts of beasts; cows and horses, lions, jackals, hyænas, antelopes, elephants, &c., devour them. We met a party of Batlapis carrying heavy burdens of them on their backs. Our hungry dogs made a fine feast on them. The cold frosty night had rendered them unable to take wing until the sun should restore their powers. As it was difficult to obtain sufficient food for my dogs, I and Isaac took a large blanket, which we spread under a bush, whose branches were bent to the ground with the mass of locusts which covered it, and having shaken the branches, in an instant I had more locusts than I could carry on my back. These we roasted for ourselves and dogs. Soon after the sun was up, on looking behind me, I beheld the locusts stretching to the west in vast clouds, resembling smoke; but the wind soon after veering round, brought them back to us, and they flew over our heads, for some time actually darkening the sun. * * * * * * * *

‘The dullness of the scene, however, was enlivened by a wondrous flight of locusts, the largest I had ever beheld. The prospect was obscured by them as far as we could see, resembling the smoke arising from a thousand giant bonfires; while those above our heads darkened our path with a double flight, the one next the ground flying north, while the upper clouds of them held a southerly course. The dogs, as usual, made a hearty meal of them. * * * *

‘We crossed the Limpopo, and having followed it for five miles, we at length got into a country so densely covered with locusts that the spore was no longer visible. A large herd of elephants had, during several previous nights, however, been there feasting upon these insects.’

According to Niebuhr, the Arabians distinguish several kinds of locusts, to which they give separate names. They refer only to the delicacy of its flesh, and not to the nature of the insect. The red locust is termed Merrken, as it is esteemed by the epicures much fatter and more succulent than the light locust, which is called by them Dubbe, because it has a tendency to produce diarrhœa. The inhabitants of Arabia, Persia, Africa, and Syria, are accustomed to eat them. The Turks have an aversion to this kind of food; but if the Europeans express the same, the Arabians remind them of their fondness for crabs, &c. This kind of food, however, is supposed to thicken the blood, and produce melancholy.

The custom of feeding upon locusts seems more generally diffused than is supposed, and is not merely confined to Africa and Arabia. They are eaten by the Nanningetes in the Malay Peninsula.

Dampier states that, on islands near Timor, ‘They make also a dish of locusts, which come at certain seasons to devour their potatoes. They take them with nets, and broil or bake them in an earthen pan. This dish,’ he adds, ‘eats well enough.’

And the author of A Mission to Ava speaks of them as a Burmese dainty.

‘The most notable viand produced consisted of fried locusts. These were brought in, hot and hot, in successive saucers, and I was not sorry to have the opportunity of tasting a dish so famous. They were by no means bad, much like what we might suppose fried shrimps to be. The inside is removed, and the cavity stuffed with a little spiced meat.’