Insects: From Countryside Food to Michelin-Starred Tables in Thailand

Insects are no longer a strange dish in Thailand, appearing more and more on Michelin-starred restaurant menus, combining traditional cuisine with sustainable trends.

Insect stalls at a grocery store in Bangkok, Thailand. (Source: Getty Images)

From crispy fried crickets to fragrant grilled ant eggs, insects are becoming a staple ingredient in high-end restaurants in Thailand. This seemingly strange trend is bringing a breath of fresh air to Thai cuisine .

Unique dishes on the table

Left: Palm weevils are blanched in boiling water and fried twice at Akkee restaurant. Right: Insects appear in dishes at Akkee restaurant. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

At Akkee, a high-end restaurant in Bangkok that has just been awarded a Michelin star, diners can enjoy a special menu: Along with red curry and stir-fried shrimp, there are about 20 insect dishes. Among them is the coconut worm, the larvae of which are boiled, fried twice, and served ceremoniously on a small plate. “Crunchy, hollow, and sweet,” one diner commented.

Other dishes such as fried grasshoppers, salted crickets or grilled stink bugs are all elaborately prepared, becoming unique highlights for a dinner that seems like a survival challenge, but is actually a sophisticated culinary experience.

The man behind this intriguing menu is chef Sittikorn “Ou” Chantop, who has just received the “Michelin Young Chef 2025” award. With his wood-fired cooking style, clay pots, and hand-pounded mortars, Sittikorn not only recreates the flavors of the past, but also brings insects, an ingredient associated with his native Isan region, into the world of fine dining.

From survival culture to sustainable culinary trends

A chef points to different insect dishes on a restaurant menu. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand, has long been associated with the habit of eating insects as an essential part of life. In harsh natural conditions, people here learn to take advantage of all available protein sources: crickets, cicadas, bee larvae, ant eggs...

It's not just culture, but also a survival lesson, something today's chefs are trying to recreate through a modern lens.

Chef Sittikorn is not the only one. Big names in Thai cuisine, such as Chalee Kader, Weerawat Triyasenawat, and Phanuphon Bulsuwan, are putting insects on the menu at restaurants like Soma, Wana Yook, Blackitch, and Samuay & Sons. Some make soy sauce from crickets, miso from worms, noodles from grasshoppers, and even chocolate covered in grasshoppers.

Chef and restaurant owner Akkee grills several types of insects. He adds only salt to bring out their flavor. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Their common goal is not only to impress, but also to reposition Thai cuisine.

This is part of a trend toward sustainability and the search for superfoods of the future, says expert Hanuman Aspler, founder of ThaiFoodmaster and a researcher of pre-World War II Thai cuisine.

According to a study published in 2023 by the scientific journal MDPI, insects contain an average of 35% to 60% protein when dry. Their carbon footprint is also lower than that of livestock, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Journey to conquer taste buds

The chefs use only traditional cooking methods to create dishes with distinctive flavors. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Convincing diners to eat insects is not easy. “You can’t get adults to eat cicadas if they’ve never tried them,” Chef Chalee says frankly. But instead of forcing them, he takes a gentler approach: Using insects as spices, sauces, powders, or processing them to make them taste familiar. Just like getting children to eat vegetables, just “disguise” them cleverly, and their taste buds will gradually get used to them.

Businesses are also joining in to spread this trend. From Udon Thani, JR Unique Foods exports cricket powder internationally; while Thailand Unique is experimenting with cricket noodles and grasshopper chocolate. The fact that insects are no longer just appearing in roadside stalls on Khao San Road, but are now being served in high-class spaces, is a strategic shift in Thai cuisine.

But it will take time and a change in mindset for insects to truly become a main ingredient. “Just be a little more open-minded,” Chef Sittikorn advises. “It’s not as scary as you think.”

A dish made from crushed cricket meat at Akkee restaurant. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Thai cuisine is entering a new phase where tradition is being reborn through innovative ideas. Insects, once considered oddities, are now a symbol of innovation, sustainability and identity.

Not everyone is ready to chomp on a fried worm, but like any new trend, the key is to dare to try. And who knows, the dish you are wary of today may become the “national specialty” of tomorrow.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/con-trung-tu-mon-an-cho-que-den-ban-tiec-michelin-o-thai-lan-316175.html