A Diet of Worms

Sampling Edible Insects in the Markets of Mexico City

Fried maguey worms (actually the larvae of the tequila giant skipper) at a CDMX white tablecloth restaurant. Surpassingly delicious—but not cheap.

Are bugs the food of the future? A few years ago, many pundits were making this claim in YouTube videos and cookbooks. In my latest book, The Lost Supper, I decided to dig deeper into the idea. The research took me to CDMX—aka DF, aka Mexico City—where top chefs aren’t afraid of cooking with edible insects, which are a venerable part of Mesoamerican gastronomy. This week, follow me into one of the metropolis’s major markets, to the stalls that specialize in insectos comestibiles…