WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Last night for dinner I had grasshopper tacos. What did you eat?
The experience hasn't turned me into a full-fledged fan of acridophagy, or the consumption of grasshoppers, locusts and related insects. I can't tell you that they taste remotely like chicken.
But they're really not much different from those delectable tiny gray shrimps they offer you to munch with your aperitif anywhere near the French coast.
It could be the locusts John the Baptist ate with honey were really grasshoppers. In 1984 archaeologists from the Utah State Historical Society investigating the deposits left by prehistoric people in a cave at the edge of the Great Salt Lake found tens of thousands of grasshopper fragments. Fine. So insects die. But among the layers of them in the sand were specimens of dried human feces stuffed with grasshopper parts.
Grasshoppers are very nutritious. They're low in fat and high in protein. But you should cook them thoroughly to kill off any parasites.
I don't suppose this piece of information is endearing them any better to you. But in Mexico, particularly in Oaxaca, they are pretty much a staple, caught by dragging a sack along the ground into which they jump, trying instead to escape.
They are first boiled in salt, then their wings and legs removed before being mixed with various spices and flavorings and popped into a taco.
I gobbled my Taco de Chapulines -- and those of two other horrified guests at the table -- at Oyamel, the latest restaurant in Washington headed by José Andres. He came from Spain via, among others, El Bulli, the restaurant of Ferran Adria, the father of molecular gastronomy. Andres introduced the capital first to little tapas plates at Jaleo, then Nuevo Latino cuisine at Café Atlantico, followed by the mezze of the Middle East at Zaytinya.
Wild and wonderful dishes inspired by Adria's application of science, modified starches and laboratory implements can be experienced at Andres' "minibar" in Café Atlantico. But its influence at Oyamel emerges in the salt foam he has used in place of crunchy grains around the margaritas.
We're fortunate in the developed world to find everything we want to eat in the sanitized world of the supermarket. But for other cultures dependent upon whatever can be picked or trapped outside their front doors, eating insects can be key in providing ready protein. Plants growing in desert conditions don't provide enough nutrition alone to keep people healthy.
The 19th-century geologist-ethnologist John Wesley Powell, studying the eating habits of the Ute and Southern Paiute living on the arid Colorado plateau, found grasshoppers and crickets essential parts of their diet. They were roasted on trays, then ground into meal for cooking into cakes or mush.
I'm not for a moment suggesting you rush out in search of grasshoppers. It's the wrong season for a start. And I don't suppose you'll find any at the Giant or Safeway. Oyamel's chef, Joe Raffa, gets his supply from Mexico where they are farm raised. He sautés them in shallots, garlic and tequila.
Of the Tacos de Chapulines, Oyamel's general manager, Andy Hoyle, says, "Right now they're selling surprisingly well. It probably starts as a dare. But then people discover they have a nice texture and taste."
Only a decade ago dinner out commonly meant going for a steak and fries. The good news about these tacos is that we've become so much more adventurous in our eating habits. And even better no Washingtonian has to depend upon insects for their protein.
Here is a recipe for Grasshopper Tacos that works well with peeled shrimp, though you won't get that crunch.
-- Chapulines Tacos
-- Serves 4
-- ¾ pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined, or grasshoppers
-- 8 tacos
-- oil
-- 1 lime
-- Pasilla chile sauce (recipe follows)
-- Sauté the shrimp or grasshoppers, then remove from heat and spritz with the lime. Heat the tacos in a 375 F oven, fill with the fried grasshoppers and serve with sauce.
-- Pasilla Sauce (good with grilled fish or chicken breasts)
-- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
-- 1 pound canned or fresh tomatoes
-- 3 dried pasilla chiles (long, tapered and wrinkled)
-- 1 tablespoon chopped shallots
-- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
-- salt
-- peanut or vegetable oil
-- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed sauté pan, then sauté the garlic and shallots over low heat till soft.
-- Add the tomatoes and cook gently till they have collapsed into a sauce.
-- Dry-roast the chiles in a hot heavy-bottomed pan then scissor into thin slices, add to the tomato sauce, cool a little then blitz briefly in a blender, leaving it a little rough, or a mortar.
-- Season to taste then fold in the cilantro.
And if you're ever in Washington, try some 'hoppers yourself at Oyamel, 401 7th Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20004, (202)-628-1005.
