Tourist Food at Donghuamen Night Market 东华门夜市

Some Kind of Insect at Donghuamen Night Market

Some Kind of Insect at Donghuamen Night Market

I’m sure that this has been broadcast around the world since Beijing hosted the summer Olympics. Many a reporter has walked down the streets of Beijing and had to sample the street food on offer. And nothing captures the audience more than bizarre Chinese street food. Fortunately, I was at Donghuamen Night Market to see what they have.

Scorpion on a Stick at Donghuamen Night Market

Scorpion on a Stick at Donghuamen Night Market

It is said that Cantonese will eat anything with four legs except a table, and anything with wings except a plane. However, they probably didn’t count on eating something with more than four legs, how about six? Or eight? Or a hundred? Yes, this is the place to try those kinds of food and they are all on display here at the night market. The stalls have bizarre arthropods available for the gastronomically adventurous. I could only helplessly watch as tourists would walk up to the stall and try sampling grilled scorpion. The same stall also had silkworm on a stick, this too is grilled.

How About Some Centipede?

How About Some Centipede?

They seem to have insects with all numbers of legs, the most I saw was centipede on a stick. I didn’t see anyone eat that. So what was the most popular? I would say the silkworm was popular since it was the cheapest of the bizarre food. What I did notice was that the locals didn’t seem to eat those. They seem to sell them primarily to foreigners. So they gather these insects only to feed them to foreigners? As I stood by a stall selling the stuff, I would have to agree. Practically all of their customers were foreigners and they do have a kick trying out the insects. As for me, I couldn’t get the nerve to take insect, maybe next time.

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