NPR News: A 29-year-old Thai entrepreneur is trying to change the way Thais eat insects — one bag at a time.
On the streets of Bangkok, you can buy just about any kind of food you can imagine. And more you probably don't want to. Pad Thai, spicy stir-fried shrimp with noodles, thick red chicken curries would fall into the first category. Fried silkworm larvae, grasshoppers or stir-fried bees might fall into the latter.
Many Thais — in fact, many people all over the world — eat insects. And Panitan is hoping to expand the market in Thailand by bringing deep-fried insects off the street and into convenience stores and gourmet shops. He believes there's a vast, untapped market out there, and he wants to plug the hole.