Termites

The rainy season has arrived in full force this week...cold temperatures, rain every evening, and muddy paths every morning.  With the heavy rains, there has been a plague of termites, swarming around the house and through my room in the evenings.  Little did I know I should be eating these insects instead of killing them.  These flying termites are a delicacy enjoyed by some communities in the Western region of Kenya, especially the Luhya tribe.  Eli, our guard, is of the Luhya tribe and enjoyed teaching me about the art of termite eating.  Kenyans will either eat the termites "fresh", meaning live, or fried.  While I might be willing
to try these insects fried or covered in chocolate, I only had the offer of live termites.  Eli picked one up from the ground, plucked off the wings and placed the termite in his mouth.  The worst part was him showing me the termite moving around on his tongue before he finally decided to crunch the termite between his teeth, spraying termite guts everywhere.  Blech, I nearly lost my lunch!  Later that day, I went to Nakumatt for some groceries and found hoards of them flying around while several Kenyans were grabbing them from the air and having a mid-shopping snack, kind of like going to Costco.  =)  While I am usually very open to trying the local foods and traditions, I think I'll pass on this one.