A couple of weeks ago “Grasshopper Season” began in Uganda. A few times a year is prime season for hunting these creatures and cooking them up. Everywhere on the streets there are vendors selling them. They are considered a real treat by most Ugandans. They take the grasshoppers and boil them, then set them out to dry, and then fry them with some seasoning. However, some people do eat them live or raw. At night in certain parts of Kampala they set up huge traps with bright lights to catch them. In Arua, you could find tons of kids in a giant field trying to catch them by hand.
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| Grasshoppers out to dry |
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| Frying up a batch |
So, a couple of weeks ago, Harriett came in with a bag of grasshoppers. During breakfast, she brought in a little plate of them and decided to see if Mercy liked them. It took Mercy a minute, but then she started grabbing them and scarfing them down. She ended up eating just about the whole plate. I was a little grossed out, yet I also found it funny. A Ugandan friend was over for breakfast that day. He could not understand why I thought it was so gross for her to eat them. He tried to explain to me all of the scientific reasons why they are so good to eat. I told him that I know all of the intellectually, but I had been told my whole life not to eat bugs. He said, “It’s not a bug, it’s an insect.” I told him I still could not mentally get past the idea. I will have you know that I did try grasshoppers on my first trip to Uganda. My primary motivation was so that I could tell my children that I did. It was gross, but not as bad as I imagined, but not good enough for me to do it again.
Again last week, one of Harriett’s daughters was over in the afternoon and she was snacking on grasshoppers. Mercy walked into the kitchen , saw what Martha was eating, and started begging for some. She ate about half of them.
So on Saturday, while we were in Arua and harvesting ground nuts for Florence, she mentioned that she had a fresh batch of grasshoppers. She had just boiled them and had them sitting out to dry. I told her that Mercy really liked them. So when we came back from harvesting, she quickly fried up a small batch for Mercy. All of us Americans gathered around as I gave her the plate. She quickly started digging in. Sandra, another missionary working with Doug and Kathryn, offered to video this event. I think it will be great to show Mercy some day. I’m sure she will not believe that she used to love to eat grasshoppers! As you can tell from the pictures, I think the thing that grosses me out the most is the crunching sounds as she eats them.
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| Cooling them off before her feast |
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| Don't think you'll catch me eating them again. Once was enough |
Then another little boy came up and wanted a few. Mercy leaned down to give him one, then quickly changed her mind and plopped it into her own mouth. Oh my! She is my little “Grasshopper Girl”.
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| Mercy needs to work on sharing |
