BIBLICAL DELICACIES IN MEXICO

Saltamontes, dried grasshoppers, served as an exotic snack.

Saltamontes, chapulines, a common delicacy especially in Acapulco, Mexico.  Dried grasshoppers!  Another prized snack is the dried tiny whole fish from that area, resembling the minnow.

We had a close encounter with these two snacks when we visited Poli and Roberta in their jewelry store in Nuevo Progreso.
Poli and Roberta have been our friends for many years. They originally came from Guerrero, Mexico and still have family there.  Roberta pastors a church in Nuevo Progreso and two years ago they moved their congregation into a new building near their home. This couple also travels deep into Mexico as missionaries, taking Bibles and gospel tracts wherever they go. Last month they went to Acapulco where Poli purchased a tiny bag of the expensive dried food. Next week they plan a trip to San Luis Potosi.  We’re going to supply them with lots of gospel tracts to use on their missionary journeys.

We arrived at the jewelry store at lunch time and were invited to sit and visit with them over lunch.  When Poli offered to share the grasshoppers with us, he teasingly said they were cucarachas.  Enjoying our shock and repulsion, he quickly told us how good they were and so good for us.  They are known as a good source of energy.  He said they keep him young!

Then he brought out a small bowl of tiny silvery miniature whole fish that had been dried. Their tiny black eyes stared at us from their thin and brittle bodies.  Needless to say, these dried fish were equally repulsive to us.  Lloyd tried one of the grasshoppers and one of the fish just so he could tell about it.

Tiny dried miniature fish from Acapulco.

Roberta had brought gorditos from home. She served these fat little cornbread cakes with salsa.  Their daughters Elizabeth and Julie didn’t like the exotic snacks, but their son Daniel and son-in-law Moises ate one or two. It’s a good thing, because Poli said they are very expensive to buy.  He paid less for them while in Acapulco.

We enjoyed visiting with Poli, Roberta and their family at the jewelry store.  Tourists came and went, looking over their large inventory of silver necklaces, rings, bracelets and pins.  We laughed a lot about the strange snacks, but we enjoyed hearing more about their traditions and their likes and dislikes. It’s an interesting culture, very different from ours, and we’re honored to be included in their lives.

Lloyd in Poli and Roberta's jewelry store with their daughter Paola and her friends.  This was taken several years ago.

“John wore clothes made of camel’s hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.”  Matthew 3:4 CEV