Unbelievable Chinese Bug Market in China

Exploring Beijing's Bug Market: A Hub for Traditional Insect Cuisine

My wife and I visited the food market in Beijing. We were excited as China will engage your senses in ways you've never experienced before. Bustling streets crammed with exotic food, drinks, and trinkets. But stalls selling deep-fried bugs seem to have grabbed the most attention. In this open market, one can feast on the creepier fare, insects, beetles, scorpions, larvae, and other assorted insects, shocking to tourists.

Famous for its 'insect street food feast.'

Here we see a Chinese food street vendor who sells scorpions, centipedes, and other fried insects. Each of the protein-rich insects was fried before being sold. Some Asian people believe that insects are nutritious snacks because of their protein. Therefore, the consumption of insects is also observed in various other countries in Asia.

Protein-rich insects

Some people believe that bugs are the super-food of the future. Eating insects like grasshoppers, crickets, water beetles, spiders, silkworms, or stick insects, among others, can provide environmentally friendly long-term solutions to the environmental problems inherent with intensive meat farming. Insects are protein-rich, typically containing between 13g and 77g of protein per 100g. They also contain healthy fats, iron, calcium and are low in carbohydrates. But insects require much less feed for the same protein output. Crickets, for example, consume 2-6 times less feed than cattle, sheep, and chickens, all the while emitting fewer greenhouse gases. 

UN Food and Agriculture Organization believes the world's population will hit nine billion by 2050. As a result, edible insects containing high-quality protein and vitamins will be required to feed the planet.