Weird Food Wednesday – Wasp Crackers
Another in what will undoubtedly prove to be a very long line of “acquired tastes” for Weird Food Wednesday, Taste Winchester History brings you Wasp Crackers. Where do we even begin?
Our research has uncovered that somewhere back in the vicinity of 2012 there came to pass a new cracker offering born from the streets of Omachi, Japan. A digger wasp lover group partnered with a local biscuit maker to create a the digger wasp rice cracker. It seems that elderly wasp hunters set about laying traps around the nearby countryside to catch the wasps. Once enough are captured, they are unceremoniously boiled in water, dried, and then become a key ingredient for the rice cracker mix. The mix is then stamped in a hot iron cracker cutter. They’re sold via local markets or at selected gourmet stores.
I surmise that the natural human reaction after being stung by a wasp, or any insect, would be to cry out on in pain, and then perhaps kill the insect. Or run. Or both. Imagine, if you will, that there came a time and a person in Japan who became so irate at having been stung by the digger wasp that the usual and customary human reactions weren’t enough. This person decided he was going to round them up by trapping them in the Japanese countryside, throw them into a pot of boiling water, press them into edible crackers, and then eat them. That’ll learn’em!
According to some sources wasps contain the highest percentage of protein of any edible insect, offering around 80 percent! For comparison purposes an average steak contains just 20 percent protein. So I think it would behoove you to put this right up top of the list of snacks for keto or other protein-based diets, am I right? Or perhaps spring these on your children when they’re demanding cookies or some other snack. (Not recommended for people who have a food allergy to digger wasps, otherwise you’re good to go.)
Doesn’t that look just yummy? If you’re ready to chomp down on some wasp crackers, comment on our Taste Winchester History Facebook Page or the Taste Winchester History Instagram Page!