Jump starting your taste buds

There are plenty of dishes whose ingredients are unexpected, or even downright bizarre. One way to hype up your next trip's adventure factor is to try things that are unfamiliar to you, including new foods or should I say exotic foods.

Mostly, the main ingredients in Filipino exotic dishes, are insects or bugs. One of it is the Adobong Kamaru. It's probably one of the best culinary traditions in Pampanga. It is just like a normal adobo but the main ingredient is substituted by Kamaru, and sometimes serve with tomatoes. Kamaru is a mole cricket, from the family Gryllotalpidae, in the order Orthoptera.

Size and appearance plays a part with mole crickets, but most of them are just the usual insect-size , typically 3-5 cm long. This insects are muscular, you can justify this by holding one in the hand; this insects are inoffensive, but the constrained insect will try to dig its way out with ample amount of force. The abdomen is the softest of its body parts, but the head, forelimbs, and prothorax are heavily sclerotize.

It is scientifically proven that this insect is definitely edible, but it is recommended to remove the harder outer wings and legs before eating these creepy crawlers. They are close to a staple protein source and are not toxic in any way, they are also completely harmless indoors, as they cannot bite or sting, and they do not feed on fabric, paper or house structures.

Sometimes, they eat vegetables because occasionally, they are crops' pest. They go very well with cold beer. They are crispy on the outside, moist in the middle, making it a favorite pulutan for the Kapampangans. Mole crickets are seasonal in the Philippines and many people check with their favorite Filipino restaurant first to make sure they are available before deciding to eat there. Five ounces of mole crickets have 28% of the daily protein you need and 74% of the calories, according to a 2008 study.