When you think of a snack you might think of a chocolate bar, potato chips, or maybe some fruit. But how about a bag of fresh fried grasshoppers, water beetles, or bamboo worms?

At Chiang Mai’s Sunday Walking market I snacked on fried bamboo worms. Last week I tried the fried grasshoppers too. Doused in soy sauce and still warm from the pan they weren’t as crunchy as I thought they would be, and the bamboo worms weren’t as soft as I had expected. Neither snack left me feeling the need to rush back for a second helping. They were rather bland, with most of the taste coming from the soy sauce.

I suspect the grasshoppers and bamboo worms were let down by the chef. After all, he was clearly using the same pan to cook everything. So I’ll try some from another place, and maybe I’ll get some fried silkworm and water beetles too.