Aphids is a type of beetle, most commonly found in Bay Nui, in two districts of Tinh Bien, Tri Ton (An Giang) and the southwestern border region. Aphids reproduce in large numbers at the beginning of the rainy season and last for about a month. This time is usually from April to May of the lunar calendar, depending on whether the year rains sooner or later. In the past, leafhoppers were considered harmful insects for farmers because they often bite young shoots, especially in mango, mulberry, and cashew trees… But recently, people in the border areas have discovered it. how to fry aphids, turn this insect a delicious and nutritious dish. Since then, many people have sought to hunt to process aphids into a unique delicacy, notably the deep-fried mealybugs. The beetle has a beetle-like shape, the size of a thumb, brown cockroach wings, short body, wings, very hard head and legs, but soft and round body. The sage beetle is dry, does not bite like some other insects. The people of this country consider this a “unique” dish, only eating for 1-2 months a year. Therefore, new beetles become a specialty. The way to catch leafhoppers during the day is to pick up cow dung, dry buffalo dung and burn it for smoke to rise to the sky. After a while, the beetles smelled the smell and just flew away, dancing in the smoke. People kept holding brooms to beat the bugs to the ground and then put them in baskets. Hunting beetles at night is simpler and more gentle. The catcher just needs to hang a bright lantern right under the mango tree, where there are beetles gathering on the tree. Just a few minutes later, the light-loving beetles were flying and falling on the ground. The Bay Nui leafhopper is larger than a thumb with a characteristic shape of the beetle, so it looks “difficult to swallow”. However, when they have passed through the hands of the housewives in the mountains, they seem to have completely molted. In the past, beetles were considered the food of the poor. But today, this insect has become a specialty, becoming a favorite dish not to be missed in restaurants and pubs. Just like how to process rice crickets, nymphs or scorpions, hoppers only need to be cleaned by removing wings, legs and gutting, then rinsing with warm water mixed with salt. Then, the cook marinated the beetles with sugar, MSG, pepper, and garlic for about 20 minutes, then caught the pan to fry until crispy. The food stalls and restaurants will have a beautiful presentation, while the dishes of the people in the countryside are simple and rudimentary, but the taste is also crispy, fragrant, fatty, and not inferior. People who know how to make aphids when removing their intestines will not squeeze all their eggs, because the eggs are very delicious and fatty, once eaten, they will remember forever. Crispy fried beetle can be served with raw vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers and salt and pepper with lemon. Just like eating fried scorpions, people who eat aphids for the first time often feel scared because the animal is ugly and the color is not fresh and attractive. The eater just needs to put it in his mouth to bite, the taste will immediately spread, the fat of the meat penetrates into each tooth root, not mixed with any other flavor. Photo: IT. Invite readers to watch the video “Smoked land – Strange dishes of Vinh Phuc people”. Source: VTV3.

Ms. Tran Thuy, an account specializing in selling cicada nymphs in Hanoi, said this year the price of cicada nymphs has decreased compared to last year. “In 2020, there is a time when the price of cicadas up to 450,000-500,000 VND / kg, still not enough to sell, but this year the price of this item tends to be cheaper,” she said. According to her, from the end of April to the beginning of May, the cicadas are in the infancy stage and have not yet grown wings. “At this time, the nymphs are fat, soft, and fragrant,” Thuy said. In recent years, cicadas pupae have become a special specialty for many people as well as restaurants and pubs. Photo: Ha Tran. This dealer said that cicada nymphs each time in the season are very attractive to buyers, especially drinkers. “Many people buy a kilo to try and then order another 2.3 kg,” she said, saying that at the beginning of the season, the price is quite high, in the middle and the end of the season, the price will cool down. At her shop, type 1 vacuum cicadas pupae cost 400,000 VND / kg, type 2 costs 300,000 VND / kg. Explaining the reason why cicadas nymphs are quite expensive, she said: “Because the process of hunting cicadas is very complicated and takes a lot of time during the night, sometimes it takes to go all night to hunt one kg of nymphs, so there is a price. high”. Similarly, Ms. Bui Vinh (Dong Phu, Binh Phuoc) said that cicada nymphs at the beginning of the season have just molted, the cicada’s body is still very young and newly emerging wings are difficult to catch, so they are rare and high priced. “In the past, people mainly collected nymphs to eat, but gradually the market demand was increasing so they started to pupate them for sale,” she said. Ms. Vinh said that the cicadas that came from the ground up and clung to the tree trunk after 5-7 minutes will molt, then I just need to light the lamp and catch. After getting soaked in salt water for 20-30 minutes, then remove the wings, cover with boiling water once and rinse. “Every season, my neighbors and I go together to catch nymphs and sell to earn extra income. Just a flashlight and a bucket of clean water diluted with salt can go hunting nymphs,” she said. Currently a kg of cicada nymphs she sells wholesale prices ranging from 190,000 to 250,000 VND / kg, depending on the type and time. “Customers, pubs often have to pre-order to have products. Many days, I cannot sell enough goods,” said the trader. Cicada nymphs do quite a lot of delicious dishes that are loved by many people. Photo: Chu Hanh. Roasted cicada pupa with lemon leaves is a favorite dish every summer for many people drinking. “During a drink, I was introduced to this dish by a friend, so I became addicted since then, every year to season, I find people to order”, Mr. Dung (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) shared. “One kg of young mite pupae is quite a lot, I buy 2.3 kg ready to divide into small bags for the refrigerator to eat gradually, each bag about 200-250 grams of processing up to be filled with a plate,” he said. Although it is a strange product sought by many drinkers, users should be careful when choosing, preliminarily processing and processing cicadas nymphs to avoid harm to their health. Before that, in May 2019 in Quang Ninh, a man was hospitalized with anaphylactic shock after drinking alcohol and eating cicadas. Doctors diagnose the patient with degree III anaphylaxis due to eating cicadas, emergency treatment according to anaphylactic shock regimen. Notably, a man in Binh Phuoc died from eating young cicadas in May 2014. According to some experts, cicada nymphs live in the soil environment, so there is a high risk of infection and parasitic fungus. In particular, some poisonous mushrooms are dangerous to users. Therefore, people should use caution.

From legend to reality In the summer of 2020, the owner of the pub Cervercería Giralda decided to renovate his property during a time of absence due to road construction and the impact of the pandemic. After layers of paint, plaster and ceiling, characteristic colorful geometric patterns and stars gradually emerged. The 12th century Islamic-style sauna was discovered in a famous pub in Seville, Spain. Photo: El Pais. Before that, many local legends and some historical documents suggest that the site may have been an ancient sauna. However, the majority of respondents believe that Giralda’s nostalgic architecture has a hint of neomudéjar style (a type of Moorish architecture commonly found in the Iberian peninsula), or Islamic style. This pub and hotel was rebuilt by architect Vicente Traver on the structure of an old building in the early 1920s. Antonio Castro, one of four co-owners of Giralda, said: “It is rumored that there are many old bathhouses here. However, not all historians agree with that hypothesis, some people did not accept it until later. We are doing some reconstruction work, some archaeologists have participated, and that’s how this bathhouse was discovered. ” “A fateful arrangement of differences” Archaeologist Álvaro Jiménez was one of those who believed that ancient bathhouse rumors were just myths. However, in July 2020, his team was gouging plaster on the ceiling when they discovered many eight-pointed star-shaped skylights. “As soon as we saw the openings in the ceiling, we knew immediately what the precursor of this room was. It cannot be anything but a bathroom, ”Mr. Jiménez said. Eight-pointed star-shaped skylights characterize 12th-century Muslim bathhouses. Photo: Álvaro Jiménez. According to the Guardian The design dates back to the 12th century, when the Almohad Muslim empire ruled much of what is today Spain, Portugal and parts of North Africa. “Generally speaking, this bathhouse has more intact decorations than any known bathhouse on the Iberian peninsula,” said archaeologists. “Everything here is decorated, and fortunately, they still exist today. The base of the wall is white mortar, engraved on it with geometric lines, circles and squares. The most characteristic of the bathrooms is the paintings of red ocher painted with stars and eight-pointed asterisks. These two motifs are interleaved with each other, corresponding to them are sky well holes of similar shape ”, Mr. Jiménez described. The star-shaped pattern and the eight-pointed asterisk that decorated the bathroom were covered with plastering lime. Photo: Álvaro Jiménez. Currently, Giralda still needs to be chiseled out of the lime coating to be able to reveal all the underlying architecture. This old sauna and pub is undergoing further maintenance and repair. It will reopen within two or three weeks. Mr. Jiménez described this finding as “a fateful arrangement of differences”. He said Giralda is reborn to become a miracle. Mr. Castro and his partners expect this discovery to open a new chapter to Giralda’s history. They also hope the pub will bring a new experience to customers. “This place used to be just a pretty famous pub. But now, people will enjoy beer or wine in a 12th-century pub and sauna. It’s great that the architect who built this pub in the 1920s respected the architecture of the bathhouse. . Had it been in someone else’s hands, this place might have been leveled and rebuilt. We are grateful to him, ”he shared.