Silk Worms Al Dente

In many ways my memories of different places that I've traveled are forged by foods I sampled along the way - special dishes, ghastly or divine that remind me of each country.

Take Thailand for example. My first trip back in the late '90's that included a most special excursion to a small silk weaving village where the little girl that I'd been "fostering" for a few years through the Christian Children's fund lived with her family. One of the most amazing experiences I've enjoyed in my travels - the Children's organization arranged for an interpreter to meet me and we headed out to the tiny village to meet the family bearing gifts of warm jackets for the coming winter (yes, even in Thailand it can get mighty cold in some locales).

As we were sitting around chatting via the interpreter, the grandmother was spinning silk threads on a rustic wooden spinning wheel. The silk cocoons were suspended in a bucket of hot water and the silk threads unraveled as she spun. When the cocoons were all unraveled of course, all that was left in the bucket was the mass of chubby silk worm larvae nicely boiled al dente in the hot water.

These then, were passed around in a flat wicker basket - offered as a special treat - an act of hospitality that simply could not be refused.

Though I hesitated for a heart-thumping moment, I had no choice but to accept a taste of the tiny white (blessedly no longer squirming) delicacies and...  Though I'd hardly put boiled silk worms in a cuisine category with say... chocolate peanut butter truffels.  Nonetheless, they weren't all that bad - tasting a little bit like tofu.

Heck, with a little bit of gravy, they might even be downright tasty!