Cricket snacks on sale in Tokushima

[thomas]

FamilyMart convenience stores in Tokushima Prefecture have started offering a new snack made of cricket powder. Gryllus Inc., a startup with connections to Tokushima University, created "C. Tria Corn Snacks," a new product containing the powder. The firm is preselling it at 85 convenience stores in the prefecture.

The new product, which contains pulverized two-spotted crickets bred in Japan, features the aroma of the powder and a crunchy texture. There are two flavours: "uma-shio" (salt with umami flavourings) and "takoyaki" (octopus dumplings). Both options are 98 yen (68 cents), including tax, per 10-gram bag. The "C. Tria Cookie (large)" and the "C. Tria Protein Bar," which have already been put on the market on a limited basis in the greater Tokyo area and in Hokkaido, were also released for sale at the outlets in Tokushima Prefecture. [...] "I didn't feel put off when I ate (the fries) because (the cricket powder) tastes a lot like spices do," said an office worker in his 40s, who bought the snack in the shop and also ate the french fries. "The more powder they sprinkle, the better they taste."

However, Gryllus warns people with shellfish allergies not to consume the product, as cricket powder contains ingredients resembling those found in crustaceans.

Snacks featuring crickets for sale at convenience store in Japan | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Link:

Why Cricket? - なぜコオロギ? 食料としてのコオロギ | グリラス

グリラスがコオロギの可能性に着目し「食料としてのコオロギの生産」に取り組む理由をご紹介します。

gryllus.jp

 

[Grandpa Frank]

The first odd thing I noticed when I arrived in Japan was they ate a lot of strange things , LOL.

 

[Majestic]

Pass.

In the late 80s, in some high end department stores, you could still find fried crickets (inago) in the food section. You could get it in sweet (honey) or savory (soy sauce) flavors. It used to fascinate me, seeing fried crickets behind the glass cases. Apparently it was a delicacy of the older generation, and I don't think it successfully carried over to the Gen Z crowd (although a quick search showed it is still readily available in some places).

One of the more adventuresome snacks in Japan that I was never brave enough to try.

 

[mdchachi]

Pass.

In the late 80s, in some high end department stores, you could still find fried crickets (inago) in the food section. You could get it in sweet (honey) or savory (soy sauce) flavors. It used to fascinate me, seeing fried crickets behind the glass cases. Apparently it was a delicacy of the older generation, and I don't think it successfully carried over to the Gen Z crowd (although a quick search showed it is still readily available in some places).

One of the more adventuresome snacks in Japan that I was never brave enough to try.

I've seen them here and there even in Tokyo but I also never found the need to try them.

One of my wife's high school friends from Tokyo married this guy in Tochigi . It wasn't terribly far from Tokyo but it was like a different world.
We visited once and she had frozen salamanders in the freezer. Fortunately she didn't cook them up for us.

 

[thomas]

Ah, it's all in your head. I was once given inago as omiyage. It is quite delicious and nutritious.

There are a lot of tsukudani (佃煮) shops in the Kinshichō area of Tokyo. Tsukudani is a traditional Japanese food made of small fish, shellfish or seaweed cooked with soy sauce and a little sugar. Above is the inago (locust) variety, they also use bee and wasp larvae.

One of the shops in Kinshichō:

FUNASA｜ENGLISH

We provide six kinds of Tsukudani throughout the year: sea kelp, burdock, short-neck clam, prawn, whitebait, and conger-eel. Additionally, we provide clasps as a seasonal flavor. A set of Tsukudani includes five kinds: sea kelp, burdock, short-neck clam, prawn, and whitebait. We add the sixth...

www.funasa.com

Using insect powder for food processing makes total sense.

 

[mdchachi]

Ah, it's all in your head. I was once given inago as omiyage. It is quite delicious and nutritious.

You weren't vegan then?

 

[johnnyG]

Tho some people don't like seafood, many do. I think shrimp/crab/lobster are just underwater bugs. And then there's ika/tako (cuttlefish/octopus), hotate (scallops), and many other things. (We had ばい貝 the other night, I'm not even sure what that is in english.)

Oysters are pretty common worldwide (I don't care for them).

 

[thomas]

You weren't vegan then?

I have never been a vegan. My better half and I have been pescetarians for over a year now.

(We had ばい貝 the other night, I'm not even sure what that is in english.)

According to Wikipedia, it's Babylonia japonica.

 

[Majestic]

If I had to list all of the exotic sea creatures that are highly prized as delicacies in Japan, but for which I have absolutely no appetite...it would be long list. Sad to say my relatively low level of adventurousness (maturity?) in trying new foods is one aspect of my upbringing that I wish I could jettison. But I see something like sazae or mirugai or some other rubbery bit of seafood on my plate, and I'm already devising five different ways to get rid of it without my host suspecting anything.

I just added Babylonia Japonica to that long list.

 

[Petaris]

If I had to list all of the exotic sea creatures that are highly prized as delicacies in Japan, but for which I have absolutely no appetite...it would be long list. Sad to say my relatively low level of adventurousness (maturity?) in trying new foods is one aspect of my upbringing that I wish I could jettison. But I see something like sazae or mirugai or some other rubbery bit of seafood on my plate, and I'm already devising five different ways to get rid of it without my host suspecting anything.

I just added Babylonia Japonica to that long list.

I couldn't bring myself to eat a whole baby squid in custard at a fancy restraunt that my father-in-law took me too. I just mentioned that I was too full to eat anything more.

 

[mdchachi]

I couldn't bring myself to eat a whole baby squid in custard at a fancy restraunt that my father-in-law took me too. I just mentioned that I was too full to eat anything more.

Custard?? Was it dessert?

 

[Petaris]

Custard?? Was it dessert?

I think so... but not sure. It came out with everything else, and I didn't know what was in it at first as it just looked like custard.
This was a good number of years ago and I don't quite recall where we even were, though I think still in Nara. It was just the two of us, he took me to a classic Japanese style theatre, we had proper Japanese green tea/matcha with those little sweets, went to a park, and then to this restaurant before going back to the house. It was interesting, as he spoke pretty much no English and I spoke pretty much no Japanese. LOL

 

[mdchachi]

Maybe it was a kind of chawanmushi.

 

[Petaris]

Maybe it was a kind of chawanmushi.

That looks very similar to what I remember so it could be.

 

[Majestic]

I love miso soup, but I'm not a big fan of clams. So receiving a steaming bowl of miso soup only to find a bed of clams rattling around on the bottom of the bowl is always a huge disappointment to me.

 

[mdchachi]

I love miso soup, but I'm not a big fan of clams. So receiving a steaming bowl of miso soup only to find a bed of clams rattling around on the bottom of the bowl is always a huge disappointment to me.

I love miso with asari or shijimi in it. It's one of the main reasons I try to go to Wako at least once every trip. Free refills!