Eating edible insects in Singapore

Singapore is a food haven, no doubt, with endless new cafes and restaurants popping on the grid every month. Of course, we’ve all heard the spiel about meatless ‘meat’ and how being vegan stops climate change, but the latest shocker was Singapore approving 16 varieties of insects as food. How will it be like to have creepy crawlies as part of our daily meals in the near future? I tried eating edible insects to find out.

What are some benefits of eating edible insects?

The thought may disgust you at first, but there are actually many benefits to eating these creepy crawlies. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, insects emit 5 times less greenhouse gases than chicken or beef. Insects like crickets are rich in vitamins, minerals, and also high in protein.

The word protein struck me like a lightning bolt. As a skinny guy in Singapore, I’ve always shoved protein-rich foods like chicken or beef down my throat in an attempt to gain weight. With my new revelation in mind, I decided to try eating insects over 6 sittings to see if I found it to be something I could do for the long term. I will be eating the insects purely on their own at first to see what they taste like before sprinkling them on my meals to see how it can be incorporated into our favourite foods.

Is it halal to eat edible insects in Singapore?

Now, before some of y’all raise your pitchforks, MUIS, the religious organisation in Singapore, has ruled that edible insects are halal.

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

With that, I started my journey of eating edible insects, particularly crickets, mealworms and white grubs, which I got from Insectyumz, one of only a few retailers in Singapore that have already started selling them.

Day 1: Regretting my life decisions

The 4 kinds of creepy crawlies I ate throughout the week.|
Image credit: Syahiran Sean

As someone who squirms at the sight of even a tiny beetle, you can imagine what I felt when I saw what I was about to eat. I wasn’t thinking about the benefits of eating insects, how sustainable they were, or the amount of protein in the bugs. Rather, I was cursing myself for even pitching this idea to my editor.

Image adapted from: @big.rooster via Instagram, Syahiran Sean

Before I took a bite of my first mealworm, I recalled watching farmers scoop up bunches of wriggly mealworms on Nat Geo. Well, now I found myself kind of in the shoes of that farmer, although my mealworm was dead and dry. It also didn’t look as off-putting as I first thought it would.

I took a bite, half expecting it to suddenly come back to life and squirm in my throat, only to be greeted with a nice crunch. It tasted somewhat like ikan bilis, only much milder in flavour.

Image adapted from: Wikimedia Commons, Syahiran Sean

I’m sure some, if not all of us, are familiar with crickets. As with the mealworm, the cricket had significantly shrunk, and had shrivelled after being cooked, which made it look less intimidating to bite into.

I went in for a bite, and shuddered as I made eye contact with the cricket’s black eyes. It had a nutty bitter taste, but was, again, quite mild.

Day 2: Hey, it’s actually not so bad

Image adapted from: Flickr, Syahiran Sean

Spirits buoyed by the first day, I found myself looking forward to Day 2. This time, I tried the other 2 kinds of insects in my possession –  the white grub and tom yum-flavoured crickets. The white grub looked like a deformed cashew nut to me, though it actually tasted more like an almond, albeit more bitter. Of the few choices I had, it was definitely the most flavourful bug thus far.

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

The white grub did not stay my favourite for long, unsurprisingly, since I finished with the tom yum-flavoured cricket. I found myself wanting to reach for more of this flavourful, crisp treat, before realising I still have 3 days left in the week.

Day 3: Trying out insect-based dishes at House of Seafood

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

So far, the insects were okay on their own but I wanted to find out how they could be incorporated into dishes fit for a proper meal. So on Day 3, I visited House of Seafood, the only restaurant in Singapore selling insect-based dishes at the time of writing. Do note that the restaurant is not halal, so I asked my colleague to tag along and try their food.

Image adapted from: Syahiran Sean

There was chilli crab fried with black field crickets (from $85), and egg fried rice topped with regular house crickets (from $14), rather than chicken – both dishes smelled tempting, in spite of the creepy crawly additions.

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

My colleague, who had the fried rice on my behalf, found the house crickets to not taste like much on their own. However, they did add a welcome crunch and unique texture to the dish.

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

But the crickets, very surprisingly, added to the flavour of chilli crab. Most of us might think that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but my colleague felt that the dish was elevated with the addition of the black field crickets giving a taste uncannily similar to Ritz crackers.

The cricket curry puff looks just like a regular curry puff.
Image credit: Syahiran Sean

To end it off, we got some curry puffs, but here’s the catch: the filling wasn’t curried potato, but seasoned cricket powder instead. It tasted more like an otah puff, and she couldn’t even detect a hint of cricket powder at all.

Seeing my colleague enjoy the dishes made me wonder if they have plans to offer these dishes  at their halal outlet in Joo Chiat. We did ask, and heard that they do want to cater to Muslim customers too, but that it will take time.

Day 4: Having edible insects with my favourite food

Image credit: Raewyn Koh

After seeing my colleague try the insect dishes at House of Seafood, it got me thinking that I should try them with my favourite food too. The next day saw me getting my go-to lunch order, ayam penyet, and sprinkling all 4 insects on it. A part of me wondered if this was sacrilegious, but I decided to try it anyhow.

My honest reaction.
Image credit: Raewyn Koh

The combo was bussin’. I found that the tinge of spice from the tom yum crickets complemented the sambal from the ayam penyet, while the crunch added a delightful texture. I did try my food with the other insects too, but with their mild flavour, they were more textural additions than anything.

That’s not a bad thing, though; since the taste is so mild, even picky eaters may find eating them easier than veggies.

When I ate just the crickets with rice, it did not taste as bad as I thought, but I did miss the chewy texture of the steamed chicken.
Image adapted from: Syahiran Sean

After clocking off work, I went to get some chicken rice for dinner, and topped it with more unflavoured crickets. As I was going to play football later that evening, I wanted to see if the extra protein would affect my energy levels. I did not really feel much of a difference, although that’s to be expected, since studies from Healthline show that one needs to consume at least a 100g of crickets if that’s their main source of protein, not a handful like I did.

Day 5: Final meal & reflections

Image credit: Syahiran Sean

To end off the challenge, I visited my favourite stall again for nasi ayam goreng. I wanted to see if the tangy sauce in my nasi ayam goreng would pair well with the tom yum crickets. They did go well together, but it got jelak after a while.

I noticed that to the horror of horrors, I was freely dumping dried crickets on my dish as if it were routine. No longer was I scrutinising the bugs and having second thoughts before popping them in my mouth, nor shuddering before biting into them. Instead, I low-key looked forward to the crispy texture that came with each bite.

In terms of how it affected my body, it didn’t really affect me that much. That’s not surprising seeing how I only ate them for a few days, and people would need to consume them more regularly to see the effects.

Other than a slightly easier time passing motion, and feeling a bit more energetic during the day, the changes were quite slight. Then again, it could have been just a placebo effect on my end.

Eating edible insects in Singapore

While I can’t say for certain that I’ll do it all over again, eating insects was nowhere nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It made me feel like I’m doing my part in promoting sustainable sources of protein, but did I really enjoy myself? I think it is far too early to say, but I don’t think it’s that weird, considering there’s other weirder foods out there.

For other cool perspectives, check out:

• How I became a missing person in Singapore
• Open letter to EZ-link card
• Accidentally becoming a sugar baby

Cover image adapted from: Syahiran Sean, Raewyn Koh