Grasshopper tacos, ant soup, crunchy crickets, and more edible bugs in Philly

Growing up in San Mateo Ozolco, a small community in Puebla, Mexico, Dionicio Jiménez would walk to the regional markets with his grandmother to trade fruits grown in his hometown for goods from other vendors.

“My mom used to trade apples for chapulines,” Jiménez said, reminiscing about the crunchy, salty treats. “You snack on chapulines all day or make salsa with chapulines, ants, or other insects we have in Mexico.”

Chapulines — grasshoppers — are a popular snack and protein source in Mexican cuisine and in culinary traditions around the globe. Edible insects are enjoyed by nearly a quarter of the world’s population, from chefs in the U.S. experimenting with cicadas to cooks in Cambodia frying crickets and silkworms.

In a world increasingly affected by climate change, insects are gaining traction as a sustainable alternative to traditional animal protein. According to the World Economic Forum, insects can offer equal or greater amounts of protein, require fewer resources, and leave a smaller carbon footprint than conventional livestock.

In Philadelphia, chefs from a range of backgrounds are incorporating edible insects into their menus — sometimes with ingredients that could be foraged from the backyard.

Now a critically acclaimed chef and owner of Cantina La Martina in Kensington, Jiménez is carrying on his hometown’s traditions by bringing insect-infused dishes to Philly diners.

Every night of the week, bugs are on the menu at Cantina. One of the restaurant’s most iconic dishes, the Tlayuda Oaxaqueña, features a flat tortilla topped with a New York strip steak, grilled prawns, and chimichurri-drizzled chapulines, served alongside the bone marrow it was cooked in. There’s also the Chamorro, a fist-size hunk of braised pork shank served in a chicatana adobo — a cauliflower puree with ants.

Grasshoppers also show up in Cantina’s “special” guacamole, shrimp tacos, and elotes. There are fried masa sopes topped with grasshoppers, ants, or the kind of worms used to flavor mezcal.

“People know we have insects, so when they come here, they’ll ask for the ‘special tacos,‘” Jiménez said of his off-menu items.

Ricardo Lorenzo, general manager at Sor Ynez and also a Puebla native, remembers gathering grasshoppers and worms with his grandfather as a child. “Toast it with lime and salt, nothing crazy, and you start snacking,” Lorenzo said.

While Sor Ynez doesn’t regularly feature insects, Lorenzo has included them on menus at restaurants where he worked before. He may bring them back for special occasions, he said — like Dia de los Muertos, when chefs often showcase unexpected proteins. Last year, for instance, Jiménez roasted a Louisiana alligator as part of his Day of the Dead celebration.

Insects are seasonal creatures, but due to the variety of species, especially in the tropics, they are available year-round. In Mexico, chapulines are typically harvested in summer and fall during their hatching season.

Cantina La Martina: 🌐 cantinalamartinapa.com,📍2800 D St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19134, 📞 267-519-2142 / Sor Ynez: 🌐 sorynez.com,📍1800 N. American St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122, 📞 215-309-2582

Head south to FDR Park, and you’ll find another menu with bugs on it — this time as part of a thriving Southeast Asian market that draws thousands of visitors each season.

Oeun Oeum, a Khmer vendor and the only one at the market who sells edible insects, first began her food business in 1989 selling water ice. Over the years, she expanded her offerings — only pausing when the city cracked down on the unauthorized weekend gatherings. Since the market was officially recognized in 2021, Oeum has returned with her full slate of Khmer dishes, bugs and all.

“I am back in the motherland standing in a field amongst beautiful scenery, searching and hunting for grasshoppers, ah ping, hing, and ta lorn torn,” Oeum, who grew up in Cambodia, recalled. She’s now a grandmother of 21 and great-grandmother of two.

Ah ping or a-ping refers to a species of tarantula often breaded, deep-fried, and seasoned. While technically not an insect, the Ta lorn torn are small fried frogs seasoned with spices like tamarind and lemongrass. Hing, or Asian painted frogs, are often grilled over open flames.

While some of these creatures can be eaten raw — Oeum says raw silkworms taste like creamy coconut — most are carefully prepared. Her method involves salting the bugs to dry them, soaking them in vinegar to remove any sliminess, and seasoning them with tamarind, lemongrass, and other spices before frying them crisp and drying them in the sun.

She then seasons the dried insects to taste and bags them up for hungry shoppers.

Each of Cambodia’s 25 provinces has their own insect-eating preferences. For those from Battambang, like Oeum, the prized snacks are small: crickets, tarantulas, frogs, and, sometimes, mice.

Enjoy Oeum’s snacks — and plenty of other dishes from Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese chefs — at the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park.

🌐 fdrseamarket.com,📍1500 Pattison Ave. and South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19145, ✉️ info@fdrseamarket.com, 📷 @seamarket_fdrpark

Philadelphia even has its own homegrown bug-based treat — though this one’s sweet.

Honey Doom Bloom is a honey created from the secretions of spotted lanternflies, an invasive species wreaking havoc on Pennsylvania’s vineyards. Don Shump, founder of the Philadelphia Bee Co., first encountered the strange product when he walked into his “honey house” and smelled what he thought was maple-cooked bacon.

“I asked my guys who were processing a hive, ‘Who’s eating maple bacon in here?’ because that’s what the smell reminded me of,” Shump said. “They were like, ‘Don, it’s not us, it’s the honey.’ And I gave it a taste and I said, ‘I don’t know what this is.‘”

They soon realized the bees had been collecting lanternfly “honeydew” — a sugary substance excreted after the bugs feed on plants. The bees brought the dew back to the hive and accidentally created one of Philly Bee Co.’s most popular products (available for purchase online at philadelphiabee.square.site).

The phenomenon isn’t unique: In 2010, New York City beekeepers found red honey in their hives after bees raided a maraschino cherry factory in Brooklyn.

Shump said the honey is perfect for spreading on crackers and bread, but where it really shines is for barbecue and steak, using the honey to make hot honey wing sauce or cooking a steak in the smoky honey.

🌐 philadelphiabee.square.site, 📞 215-288-0893, 📷 @philadelphiabee