This paper describes the custom of eating sago weevil (
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) in Sulawesi and Maluku district, eastern Indonesia. It is considered to be the most important basic edible insect in the region because it is plentiful, easily harvested and rated as pleasant tasting.
The behaviour associated with harvesting this natural resource can be summarized as follows:
Sago weevils are collected from a stump or a trunk of a sago palm tree which is already dead after being cut down for collecting sago starch. No complicated gathering technique has been developed or is necessary. The gathering of this plentiful resource is combined with the collecting of sago palm starch which is also utilized. In the surveyed area, both larvae and adults of sago weevil are used as food, though larvae are more popular. This is a plentiful and easily harvested resource so people usually collect enough for their own needs and they are not gathered in large quantities and are not sold at the market.
People rate the taste of these insects highly and positively, and they are used as cuisine with various processes which bring out the taste. Sago weevil is a resource which is used in an increasing range of dishes with a variety of luxury grocery items.
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