Translations:Indonesian cuisine/54/en

Unlike Thailand, in Indonesia insect is not a popular food ingredient nor widely available as street food. In Java, locals do catch, breed and sell certain species of insects, usually sold fresh or alive as pet bird feed. Nevertheless, traditionally several cultures in Indonesia are known to consume insects, especially grasshopper, cricket, termite, also the larvae of sago palm weevil, bee and dragonfly. In Java and Kalimantan, grasshoppers and crickets are usually lightly battered and deep fried in palm oil as crispy kripik snack. Smaller grasshoppers, crickets and termites might be made as rempeyek batter cracker which resembles insect fossil. During monsoon rainy season, flying termites are abundant being attracted to lightbulbs to mate. Locals usually put a bucket of water under the lamp to trap the flying termites, pluck the wings, and roast the termites as additional protein-rich snack. In Banyuwangi, East Java, there is a specialty dish called botok tawon (honeybee botok), which is beehives that contains bee larvae, being seasoned in shredded coconut and spices, wrapped inside banana leaf package and steamed. Dayak tribes of Kalimantan, also Moluccans and Papuan tribes in Eastern Indonesia, are known to consumes ulat sagu (lit. sagoo caterpillar) or larvae of sago palm weevil. This protein-rich larvae are considered a delicacy in Papua, and often being roasted prior of consumption. Locals may also commonly eat the larvae raw or alive. In Bali, dragonflies are also consumed by processing them into pepes.