Jumiles: dead of alive

One of the curiosities of Mexican regional, and many time less internationally known, cuisine is that you can find dishes ranging from ant eggs to bugs. Usually they do come deep fried and we all know that any fried protein tastes basically like chicken, no harm there.  Jumiles however, are a little bit more special in the sense that they come dead or alive.   

Jumiles are small stink bugs that are mostly found in the Taxco region in the state of Guerrero and in the state of Morelos, Mexico. The Jumile season begins in November with a big "fiesta" during which the local people go to the Huixteco park to camp and collect Jumiles. The best part about it is that in these regions they are mostly eaten alive. That’s right people, alive and kicking. They do taste a little bit like medicine and cinnamon and apparently are good to cure rheumatism.

They are also served in mortar in a form of a salsa by mixing them with tomatoes and green chili, quite appreciated by the locals. Another popular dish is a Jumil taco. You basically take a bunch of jumiles, put them in a corn tortilla, add some lime and salsa and try to eat it before they run away from your plate.

Ingredients:
Handful of Jumiles
2 Tomatoes
2-3 Green chiles (Jalapeno or Serrano)
½ Onion
½ Avocado (optional)
1 tablespoon of cilantro
Salt & pepper

Preparation:
Burn the tomatoes and the chilis on a flat pan. In a mortar, crash together all the ingredients and add salt and pepper for taste. It is really that simple.