Grilled, Fried or Stewed: Eateries in Singapore Serving up Silkworms Without Approval

Channel News Asia ^ | 29 Mar 2023 | Ang Hwee Min

[nickcarraway]

A check online and at food establishments found that several Chinese and Korean eateries were selling silkworm pupae, despite it not being approved for consumption in Singapore.

The sale of insects for consumption has not yet been approved in Singapore, but some eateries are already serving up dishes with creepy-crawlies.

A check online and at food establishments found several Chinese and Korean restaurants here selling silkworm pupae – usually grilled, fried or stewed in soups.

Chuan Chuan Le, a Chinese restaurant in Jalan Besar specialising in grilled skewers, put up a post on its Facebook page last month introducing two of its new dishes: Stir-fried silkworms and grilled silkworms. Silkworms were also on the menu at Ode to Joy Dining, a coffee shop stall in Midview City selling grilled food and mala xiang guo, a spicy, tongue-numbing stir-fry of vegetables and meats.

[nickcarraway]

[Libloather]

Always ask the silkworms first. Tastes kinda like scorpion.

[JimRed]

Them ain’t Kosher.

[NWFree]

Taste just like grasshoppers they say

[Songcraft]

The worst ones are probably the ones which are still moving around on the plate.


     

[JimRed]

The worst ones are probably the ones which are still moving around on the plate.

Gagh is best eaten live.

[Songcraft]

I'll take your word on that, Jim!      :-)

[CFW]

Thou shall not serve any food without “approval”. Bugs are apparently fine, as are meal worms, however silkworms are not on the list of “approved” items”.

Do we HAVE to get into the menu discussion of squirrel, raccoon and ‘possum?

[ansel12]

Very futuristic of them.

[nwrep]

Deliiiiicious!!!!!!

[TigersEye]

If you serve “uapproved” food in the U.S. you might get a fine.

In Singapore you might get a caning! Aiyeeeee

[Chickensoup]

Yuck!

[chopperk]

Wonder if they taste stringy?

[Libloather]

Comes with it’s own floss?

[nickcarraway]

Why futuristic?

[nickcarraway]

Could be delicious.

[dfwgator]

Slimy, yet satisfying.

[ansel12]

It was a reference to all the recent “eat ze bugs” posts about the conspiracy to make us all start eating bugs as our future source of protein.

[nickcarraway]

Well, I have to say, there may be people who want us to subsist on buys. Ynsect is a French company that got abut half a billion dollars in funding to produce bugfood.

But there have been traditional eating of bugs as food, which I have no problem. I have tried chapulines, which are Mexican friend crickets. I would try these silkworms if I got the chance.

[ansel12]

Eating bugs and even candy covered bugs is nothing new.