So you think eating fried insects is gross, huh? Well, if you’ve used any of the ever present little bowls of hot sauce at a Thai food restaurant, you’ve already eaten bugs so what the hey! That’s Right: In Thai cuisine, water bugs are commonly part of certain chili sauces, and are not looked upon as a pest or bug. Besides, they are ground up and unrecognizable. But you’ve eaten them all the same.

Of course that’s not quite the same as chompin’ down on fried grasshoppers, whole water bugs, cock roaches, or silk worms. These and several other bug types can be found all over Bangkok being hawked from street stall eateries. For some reason they are especially predominate around the perimeter of the weekend market. Must be a Thai thing, hit the flea market and have some bugs for a snack. And the locals tell me it really is all about the sauce, anyway.