There are 'weird' food in every culture without exception, even in Western countries. One man's meat is indeed another man's poison. Many others will be disgusted at foods like French escargots, American Rocky Mountain 'oysters' (cattle testicles) and English black pudding. If you're talking about insects, there are also candy & lollipops made by US companies that contain real scorpions, worms & crickets.
There are also plenty of other countries who eat insects, regarded as nutritious & full of protein, like Thailand, Japan, South America, Africa etc. Even Americans are becoming more accepting, with over ten insect festivals each year like the Bug Bowl at Purdue University and restaurants like Typhoon, in Santa Monica, that serves insect delicacies.
Insects have enjoyed a place at the Japanese dinner table for many centuries. There insect foods are exotic, local niche items that the vast majority of modern Japanese have never try even once in the course of their lifetimes. 
Monday, December 01, 2008
Delicious Food of Japan
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3 comments:
No Japanese eats insects in sushi-style. These photos were probably taken for a special purpose.
Some still do eat Inago (glass hoppers), but as you said vast majority don't eat or even want to try.
I lived in Japan for two years and my mother is Japanese. I have never seen or heard of anyone in Japan eating insects in Japan except in my grandfather's stories of having to eat grasshoppers once or twice during the war because there was no food.
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