Içás, or queen ants, taste like mint? Maybe the Girl Scout Association should look into making some special edition Thin Mints, yeah? It’s interesting that although many Brazilians enjoy eating içás, many are embarrassed to admit that they do eat them because the food is often a tradition reserved for poorer families. On the opposite side of that perception, in northern Colombia, locals are exporting their “hormigas culonas” or big-rear queen ants, to France, Britain and other countries, where they are dipped in chocolate. Although some residents in Brazil say they could use the money, they are also concerned about preserving tradition and the ant population, which they believe does not involve shipping their food to other interested countries. Read the rest of the article here: Pesticides Threaten Ant-Eating Tradition in Brazil.

Mr. Ferraz, 72, says he receives almost daily phone calls asking him to start delivering ants to far-off towns. He said he looked into exporting them at some point but gave up because the Brazilian export laws for food are too complicated. Beyond that, he said, “I don’t think making deliveries would be good for the quality of the tradition.”

He grew up eating içás at home and taught the tradition to his children. Then, 20 years ago, he held an içá festival that drew more than 400 people. The festival’s success inspired him to create an arts and crafts center dedicated to the tradition.

Today he shows off table mats, dishes, cups, his apron and paintings on a wall of his restaurant that all feature the queen ant. Other artists are designing toys.

Slowly, Mr. Ferraz was able to help break the stigma that used to surround eating içás, which had been seen as a tradition reserved for poorer families. “Many people would say they were embarrassed about eating içás,” he said. And yet, he said, every October and November “the entire town would smell like frying ants.”

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