The day I ate a grasshopper....

and this wasn't unintentional, it was on purpose!! It's pretty shocking that the self-proclaimed pickiest eater in the western hemisphere, ate a grasshopper! But now here's the thing: the next time anyone tries to make me try mayonnaise or anything else absolutely disgusting my response will be: "go eat a grasshopper and then come back and talk to me". So by eating this grasshopper I've pretty much secured myself from ever having to eat anything I know I won't like, ever again.

Okay so lets back up and I'll tell you the whole story of how I got to eating a grasshopper.

Ever since I've been back in Kampala, a little bit over a week now, everyone in the city has been selling grasshoppers and it just came out of nowhere. The first time I noticed this was when I was in the taxi park and this guy came up to my window and asked me if I wanted to buy crickets, and I was like what? Did I hear him right? And yes, yes I did. People eat grasshoppers here, and there's actually a grasshopper season, that's why it just seemed like they came out of nowhere. I wasn't too bothered by it because I wasn't expecting my family to bring them home....

I woke up Saturday morning, strolled into the kitchen to find my mom, my 2 sisters, and one of my brothers circled around this huge bowl of big green grasshoppers. They were removing the wings and feet, and when they saw me they said:"have you ever eaten a grasshopper". I was so terrified in that moment that all I could do was laugh and say people where I'm from don't eat grasshoppers! I spent the whole day afraid that I would be served them for lunch or dinner, but luckily I was not.

After dinner my mom and I were talking about them and she asked me if I wanted to try one. Knowing this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to eat a grasshopper, and knowing how much this would shock everyone back home, I said yes. She pulled out a bag full of them, they were cooked mind you. I asked her how she cooks them, and she said they fry them in a pot over the fire, but I wouldn't call it frying, because I was hoping for a tempura style grasshopper, where you wouldn't actually be able to tell what it was. But no, it had just changed colors from a bright green, to a yellowish/brown. And the little beady eyes were staring at me!

She instructed me to pull off the legs if there were any remaining and she said I could take off the head since its a little more tough than the rest of it. So I did what she said, relieved I didn't actually have to eat the head with the beady eyes. And then I ate it! And believe it or not...it wasn't half bad! I wouldn't say its my new favorite snack, but it could have been far worse. It tasted a little salty and was a little crunchy but other than that it wasn't terrible.

So there is my grasshopper story! I feel like now I could go on fear factor and win some money no problem!