Bug of the day? Bangkok Cordon Bleu school teaches insect gastronomy

Anyone for cricket? Image by fdecomite / CC BY 2.0 Image by fdecomite / CC BY 2.0

Bugs in a gourmet kitchen are usually something to be squashed or swatted – but at esteemed French cooking school Le Cordon Bleu, chefs and food scientists have been simmering, sauteing and grilling insects to extract innovative flavours they say could open a new gastronomic frontier.

As a finale to their research, the school’s Bangkok branch held a seminar called Edible Insects in a Gastronomic Context, which booked up weeks in advance and offered a tasting menu which included a vial of ant-infused gin, a shot glass of warm cricket consomme, then an hors d’oeuvre of beetle butter and herb crisp.

Before anyone else could crack a joke about bugs in fine French food, the chefs made their own. “This is the first time that insects have been granted access to the Cordon Bleu,” instructor Christophe Mercier said with a smile.

(Press Association)