Nagano firm upholding locust-eating tradition

Harumi Tsukahara, 91, hurled 1,000 locusts weighing a total of 6 kg into a large pan, stirred them with a large rice scoop and boiled them thoroughly in soy sauce, sugar and sake for one hour.

"Now, they are ready. They are less salty," she said as she scooped the brownish-red locusts.

Tsukahara Delicacy in Inadani, Nagano Prefecture, founded 72 years ago, sells boiled locusts and Tsukahara has been preparing them for 60 years.

"In other regions, boiled locusts are considered weird, but we love them here," she said.

Yasuharu Tsukahara, 64, who runs the store with his mother, Harumi, and his son, Shinya, 35, said, "We supply 60 percent of domestically produced locusts."

Last year, the store collected 4 tons. Half was used as a cooking ingredient, while the other half was boiled and sold.

As an ingredient, locust sells for ¥380 per 100 grams. Boiled locusts go for ¥500 per 100 grams.

The products are displayed at produce exhibitions in Tokyo and Nagoya, and are sold online.

About 10 locust catchers travel to rice fields in Nagano, Niigata, Akita and Miyagi prefectures to catch the insects during rice harvesting in the fall. Farmers welcome the hunters because locusts harm their crops.

"Locusts are honest. They gather in fields where tasty rice is produced," Yasuharu Tsukahara said.

In the 1970s, they were only found in regions ringed by mountains and the store had to depend on imported frozen locusts.

"Rampant use of fertilizers" caused their decline, said Kenichi Nonaka, 43, a professor at Rikkyo University. "They recovered after the use of agricultural chemicals was regulated. Insects provide an environmental index."

Locusts boiled in soy sauce and bee larvae are listed in Japan's standard food composition table, which shows, for example, that 100 grams of locusts can provide 26.3 grams of protein, compared with 20.2 grams of protein from Japanese shoulder beef.

At a meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Thailand in February, around 50 researchers from more than 10 countries, including from North America and Europe, were asked to choose the 10 best edible insects in the Asia-Pacific region.

Bamboo caterpillars came out on top, followed by house crickets. Locusts came in fourth.

"In the near future, insects will become an important source of protein," said Jun Mihashi, 76, a former professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture who attended the meeting.