Frog legs and insect eggs at Mexico’s ancestral food fair

STORY: Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Would you try insect eggs and frogs legs?

This prehispanic food fair celebrates Mexico’s ancestral cuisine

Dishes include aquatic bed bug's eggs and multiple-shaped corn dough

[Gustavo Guerrero, Prehispanic fair exhibitor]

“This is ahuautle flapjacks, what is that? The ahuautle is the aquatic bed bug's eggs. Its a prehispanic dish. Chronicles explain this dish was served at emperor Moctezuma's court, it was offered as breakfast every morning.”

[Abraham Avellana, Fair attendee]

“What was really eaten here before the Spanish arrived? It is difficult to know and even harder to taste it. This is why I decided to come to Iztapalapa borough to taste the dishes. I ordered an huautle flapjack, mainly because I didn't know what ahuautle was. I asked and it is mosquito's or bed bug's eggs with seepweed.”

[Hiran Moran, Fair organizer]

“According to sources and codex, prehispanic food was healthy and rich as it contained all the nutrients we need – proteins, vitamins, fats, and antioxidants. All these elements of the ancestry cuisine can be now adopted to have healthier diets.”