True earth fare

By Nicole Meadows

“Eats everywhere,” is what Sina, the name of our tour guide, means in English. Paired with the English meaning of his family name, Kham, “come bite,” he is double doomed to be a voracious and indiscriminate consumer.

I had heard that Cambodians make full use of their native fauna, but I did not realize how casual it was.

“Cambodians like to eat crickets,” said Sina, crumbling off the wings and legs of a shiny brown capsule.

He offered me one from a lady who had a plastic bag full of them. Her children pulled crickets to eat the way American children handle Goldfish crackers.

So I ate a fried cricket.

Without too much thought, I pulled off the wings and nettle-legs, and I popped that cruncher into my ignorant mouth, beady eyes and all.

Then, at their invitation, I went for another one.

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