Okay, yesterday Carlos and I heard about a massive emergence of Atta ant (leaf-cutting ant) queens. This is a fairly rare event involving hundreds of huge (~ 2.5 cm long) reproductive queens venturing out to found new colonies.
Apparently, these ants are fried up and revered as a tasty treat in a small region of Colombia so we collected a bunch and brought them home to try. First, we removed the wings, then cooked them up in a large, very hot pot until the ants were crispy.
I tried 2 ants and they weren't that bad. They really didn't taste like much: basically crunchy burnt popcorn seeds is the closest I can describe them as. We brought our cooked ants to a dinner party last night and a bunch of people tried them...with mixed reactions.
I don't mind eating these, but in my opinion, they were a lot of work for only a little payoff. I would rather cook up popcorn or eat some sour cream and onion Pringles than chomp on more ant queens!
PS. These ants have also been covered in chocolate and sold in fancy department stores throughout Europe. Would you try them?
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