美国国家公共电台 NPR So What Does A Deep-Fried Grasshopper Taste Like?

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

This may not be your usual breakfast, but care for some chili¹-fried grasshopper²? Why, yes, it's a crunchy popular snack in parts of northeastern Nigeria, as NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports.

OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE⁴: This is going to be a first for me. Grasshoppers⁵ are a delicacy⁶ in this part of Nigeria, in Maiduguri. And they look pretty good, so I'm going to give it a try. Madam, what's your name, please?

MARGARET JOSEPH: My name is Margaret Joseph.

QUIST-ARCTON: Margaret Joseph.

JOSEPH: Yeah.

QUIST-ARCTON: Margaret, tell me about grasshoppers. Tell me more.

JOSEPH: Grasshopper is good in body.

QUIST-ARCTON: How does it taste?

JOSEPH: Like meat (laughter).

QUIST-ARCTON: It tastes like meat.

JOSEPH: Yes.

QUIST-ARCTON: So may I taste one please? So you're dipping the fried grasshopper into pepper...

JOSEPH: Yes.

QUIST-ARCTON: ...A chili powder.

JOSEPH: Yes.

QUIST-ARCTON: And then?

JOSEPH: And then you eat it.

QUIST-ARCTON: All right. Do I put it all into my mouth?

JOSEPH: Yes.

QUIST-ARCTON: Are you going to eat one with me? You grab one...

JOSEPH: OK (laughter).

QUIST-ARCTON: ...Too. Ready? One, two, three.

(LAUGHTER)

QUIST-ARCTON: Very crunchy, a bit as if you were eating a prawn⁷ - but the entire prawn, including the shell. I could get a taste for grasshoppers.

And that's the way I got to eat my first-ever grasshopper. Market hopper seller Margaret Joseph, her mother Regina and some friends are chatting in a Maiduguri market in front of a large, metal tray now half-full of deep-fried grasshoppers. Joseph says she buys and fries, and consumers have been chomping⁹ on the hopper snacks all day.

ADO GARBA: Of course, I eat.

QUIST-ARCTON: So Mr. Ado Garba has selected his grasshopper. He sort of whipped off the legs, and he's into munch¹⁰ mode, crunch³ mode.

GARBA: I've been eating this grasshopper for almost 20 years. It's one of my favorite foods.

QUIST-ARCTON: But there's more to it than simply a snack. Hopper - and especially locust¹¹ catchers - are seen as a blessing¹² by the local communities. They hunt the locusts¹³ that could otherwise become a nuisance, even a menace, gobbling up farmers' crops. Margaret Joseph sells Garba a plastic bowl-full of fried grasshoppers at the equivalent of about $2. She says she makes about a 30-percent profit on a good day.

JOSEPH: It's sweet.

QUIST-ARCTON: It's sweet.

JOSEPH: Yeah, it's really sweet.

QUIST-ARCTON: It is sweet. So what's your advice to people who've never tasted grasshopper? What do you think?

JOSEPH: The people who never eat grasshopper, if you're hungry, eat it. Then I'll give you - let you taste it.

QUIST-ARCTON: So that's an open invitation from Margaret Joseph.

JOSEPH: Yes.

QUIST-ARCTON: Come to Maiduguri. Come to her grasshopper stall. And come and chomp⁸ on fried grasshopper and chili. You're most welcome. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, at a grasshopper snack joint¹⁴, Maiduguri.

(SOUNDBITE OF IKEBE SHAKEDOWN'S "PEPPER")

1 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

2 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

3 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 grasshoppers   

n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的

参考例句：

• Grasshoppers die in fall. 蚱蜢在秋天死去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are usually a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. 稻田里通常有许多蚱蜢。 来自辞典例句

6 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

7 prawn   

n.对虾，明虾

参考例句：

• I'm not very keen on fish, but prawn.我不是特别爱吃鱼，但爱吃对虾。
• Yesterday we ate prawn dish for lunch.昨天午餐我们吃了一盘对虾。

8 chomp   

v. （人、动物进食时）大声地咬，嚼得很响

参考例句：

• I lost a tooth while chomping on a French baguette!我啃法棍面包时，崩掉了一颗牙！
• They just chomp on tundra, nap a few hours and feast again.它们只是在苔原上大嚼特嚼，睡上几小时，接着再吃。

9 chomping   

v.切齿，格格地咬牙，咬响牙齿( chomp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Elizabeth and Lawrence are chomping at the bit to go on vacation. 伊莉莎白和劳伦斯迫不及待要去度假了。 来自互联网
• She was chomping away on a bagel. 她在嘎蹦嘎嘣地啃着一个硬面包圈。 来自互联网

10 munch   

v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼

参考例句：

• We watched her munch through two packets of peanuts.我们看她津津有味地嚼了两包花生米。
• Getting them to munch on vegetable dishes was more difficult.使他们吃素菜就比较困难了。

11 locust   

n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐

参考例句：

• A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
• This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。

12 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

13 locusts   

n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树

参考例句：

• a swarm of locusts 一大群蝗虫
• In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything. 很快蝗虫就飞落下来开始吃东西，什么都吃。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。