Bug Snacks are Coming to Thailand Stores

[Jacob Maslow]

Panitan Tongsiri, a 29-year-old Thai entrepreneur, is hoping to change the way Thais eat insects. On the streets of Bangkok, you can buy just about any food you can imagine – including grasshoppers and stir-fried bees. But Mr. Panitan is looking to take advantage of the bug-craze by selling snack-sized bags of the fried critters in stores.

Many people all over the world eat insects, and Thais have been eating them for a long time. But Mr. Panitan hopes to solve some issues that plague the industry and fill a void in the market.

Panitan says that the traditional way to eat insects is to buy them from a street vendor. But nowadays, you have to wait for the vendor to come. Hygiene is also an issue as there is little quality control or standards. The third problem?

Perception of edible insects.

Panitan’s bugs in a bag snack tackles all of these problems by offering edible insects on demand, ensuring that the products are produced in a hygienic facility, and packaging the snacks in colorful, potato-chip sized bags. Currently, the company offers four flavors: original (soy sauce and pepper), cheese, barbecue and seaweed.

Thus far, Panitan has no plans to export his snacks outside of Southeast Asia, but firms in the United States and Europe are buying his cricket powder.

-- 2015-04-17

[noitom]

This is big Thai news.

[ratcatcher]

This is big Thai news.

No, this is BUG Thai news.

[hansgruber]

I was watching a documentary where some Japanese scientists were saying bugs are the food of the future. Its inevitable that we all will be eating them as water will become scarcer and farming as we know it will die. Bugs are easy to farm and rich in protein.

[Songhua]

I'll have the double larvae burger and a regular bee pee please.

[Thaddeus]

Currently, the company offers four flavors: original (soy sauce and pepper), cheese, barbecue and seaweed.

I'm not lost for words, I'm just lost for words I can use safely.

[NongKhaiKid]

Target ladies with the pitch that it whitens skin and sales will go through the roof.

[Cpkt8]

Target ladies with the pitch that it whitens skin and sales will go through the roof.

+ Anti-aging benefits:)

[NongKhaiKid]

Target ladies with the pitch that it whitens skin and sales will go through the roof.

+ Anti-aging benefits:)

and helps children be smarter.

[Songhua]

Target ladies with the pitch that it whitens skin and sales will go through the roof.

[Yunla]

I wonder if they've trademarked "Waspa" bars yet, chocolate and wasp bars in a smart blue wrapper with red logo. I bet they're looking into it.

I think this guy has a great business idea, and I wish him luck with it.

But I will still buy my insect food from the street stalls, because I like the unknown excitement factor, something that is harder to get when you're older. 7-11 snacks are a bit safe like green-slopes for nursery skiers, but the street stalls are where you get the real off-piste thrills and spills, and often the authentic traditional family business feel too.

[timmyp]

I am not a fan of the street bugs cuz

1. some are really greasy

2. it's street food, and sanitation is a concern (do I sound obssessive about cleasliness?)

But now the market has answered my calls!

I am happy and curious to give these critters a try. I'm not much of a crisps/chips snack guy, but I will have a few in the name of cullinary progress.

There was a story on NPR yesterday about the same thing:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/04/15/394849989/street-food-no-more-bug-snacks-move-to-store-shelves-in-thailand

This guy is making a great move by releasing this line of snacks. It's a totally open market! Gotta love the name of the product line: "Hi-So"

[Mot Dang]

Yummy !

You too can now have a side order of pesticides and heavy metals. Ask any of the vendors around Sukhumvit where their bugs come from, the answer, Cambodia. Sure Central Thailand (you can see the blue light mist-nets at night from the train) does supply a bit, but not as much as a few years ago. It is only a few years ago, way after the rest of the world, that they gave up using DDT. No thanks I'll stick with peanuts.

[mca]

Currently, the company offers four flavors: original (soy sauce and pepper), cheese, barbecue and seaweed.

I'm not lost for words, I'm just lost for words I can use safely.

Then allow me to lend you scrumpdiddillyumptious Thad mate.

[bendejo]

Kid in 7-11, pointing at the rack of crisps:

"Mommy mommy I want bugs."

Two girls working the kitchen of farang hangout in Pattaya. A cockroach falls into the deep fryer. The girls argue who gets to eat it.

[seajae]

last year they were telling us not to eat the cooked bugs due to the amount of insecticide in them and that there were possible side effects from it, even death. Seems that because some " 29-year-old Thai entrepreneur" has discovered he can flavour them and stick them in a bag that the insecticide worries are now moot. Got to love the thias, if it involves making money they dont worry about the side effects, a few deaths is nothing if you are making a motza.

[lemonjelly]

deep fried insects ...... junk food.

[Toknarok]

This evening my wife and daugter presented me with a bowlfull of fried silk worm bugs, the ones that are left after the silk cocoon has been removed. Cost 50baht. I'm not a great fan of eating insects but over the years have tried many varieties, but never cockroaches.

The silkworm larvae taste is difficult to describe, sweet with a destintively woody flavour. Not unpleasant at all. I would imagine that if they were sold covered in chocolate or something they could well be an acquired taste.

[ratcatcher]

I wonder if they've trademarked "Waspa" bars yet, chocolate and wasp bars in a smart blue wrapper with red logo. I bet they're looking into it.

I think this guy has a great business idea, and I wish him luck with it.

But I will still buy my insect food from the street stalls, because I like the unknown excitement factor, something that is harder to get when you're older. 7-11 snacks are a bit safe like green-slopes for nursery skiers, but the street stalls are where you get the real off-piste thrills and spills, and often the authentic traditional family business feel too.

Yunla, you may well be immune to the after effects of ingesting insects. but I have several friends who were very piste-off after having their thrills and spills on the way to the traditional family loo subsequent to a bag of deep fried dtak dtaen.

[Bluespunk]

Target ladies with the pitch that it whitens skin and sales will go through the roof.

+ Anti-aging benefits:)

Always makes me laugh that anti-ageing claim. What do they do, create a force field that keeps time out?

[northernphil]

I hope he has success. Bugs to riches. Here are my next door neighbours ( and wife ) with the nights capture of bugs.