Beef Cooked with Ants, Anyone?

I did hear about it but never really thought of ever seeing it, let alone tasting it, probably not in this life.

Until.

I went to Siem Reap.

I was told by Melissa the owner of Siem Reap Rooms Guesthouse where exactly to find it. Apparently, it was very near to the centre of town. In fact, it was very near to the guesthouse itself.

It is a place where many of the locals but less of the tourists would go to, probably because the foods are too exotic for them. May be.

With a head held high, I ordered for a dish. Beef Cooked with Ants as it was described. Of course it had its own name in Khmer but there was no way I could ever remember it.

The whole place was actually quite dark. I couldn’t see the dish in details so it was just a matter of shoving a spoonful into my mouth and wait for my own reaction to come out of me.

It tasted like ..

ANTS.

Despite all the ingredients and basil and and heavy sauces that were probably meant to override the taste of ants, the taste of ants was still very much there. You know, the ants that you’d see crawling on trees and branches and leaves, sometimes crawling away and sometimes attacking you in protection of their territory.

Of course you wouldn’t get to taste them when they are crawling but you can still smell them. I suspect it has something to do with their liquid by-product, probably as part of their protection mechanism or something.

That sour and acidic smell will become the taste of it when you eat the Beef with Ants.

It doesn’t really taste bad. It only needs a little bit getting used to but I’m afraid one dish wouldn’t make you get used to it.

But no. We didn’t order another dish. Probably next time. If ever. 😀