Crunchy crickets are now on the menu at many restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City’s Cu Chi District, offering an extreme and unforgettable dining experience.
No one knows how long insects, such as crickets and scorpions, have been eaten in Cu Chi District, home of the legendary Cu Chi Tunnels where Vietnamese guerrillas hid during the Vietnam War.
It is said that the habit of eating insects might have formed when hungry wartime soldiers living in the jungle ran out of conventional food.
There are about 1,462 recorded species of edible bugs in the world, with the cricket the most commonly eaten insect.
Although outwardly unappealing, the cricket is nutritious, high in protein, calcium and iron and low in fat.
The most basic way to cook a cricket is to fry it – after removing the guts.
People who have sampled crickets say the insects have a “rich taste” and would be an ideal finger food to accompany beer.
Cricket farm owner Le Thanh Tung has invested heavily in the potential of the crunchy six-legged snack.
His Thanh Tung Cricket Farm, the first and biggest of its kind in Cu Chi, has more than 500,000 crickets of all sizes and breeds.
Tung, a self-taught cricket breeder, spent years unlocking the secrets of breeding the insects as well as persuading local restaurants to add cricket dishes to their menus.
His hard work has paid off, with his crickets now sold at restaurants and breeding farms in HCMC, in neighboring provinces and even overseas.
The farmer also hosts many locals and tourists to his restaurant to enjoy a cricket dishes such as “young crickets deep fried,” “cricket salad,” “crumbed crickets,” “cricket noodles” and “peppered crickets.”
Each breed of cricket has different flavors and texture, some are big and meaty, some are small, crunchy and perfect for deep frying.
Crickets can be fried and salted, cooked with fish sauce, noodles or herbs to create mouth-watering dishes that are not easily forgotten.
Besides crickets, the farm also breeds thousands of scorpions and centipedes in anticipation of another invasion of insects on Vietnamese dining tables. 
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