Anyone for a Centipede Vodka?

Trying to capitalize on what some believe is the future of food, ThailandUnique.com is an online marketplace offering unusual insect specialty foods, drinks and gifts.

 

One of the company’s offerings that has piqued the collective interest of the PCT staff is Centipede Vodka Infusion, Thai rice grain vodka infused with a 10-centimeter farm-raised giant centipede (Ethmostigmus rubripes). According to the website, “the vodka is steeped for several months, which then imparts a unique flavor into the liquor.”

Other vodka offerings include Longhorn (Beetle) Vodka and Tarantula Vodka; you can guess what the main (non-alcohol) attraction is in those bottles.

 

While it sounds crazy to much of the Western world, alcohol infusions containing herbs and/or snakes, scorpions, spiders, etc., are commonly used in Southeast Asia for various medicinal purposes, and they are believed to reinvigorate a person according to Traditional Chinese medicine, the website reports.

 

Established in 2004 by Graeme Lee Rose and his wife Warunee Rose, ThailandUnique.com offers a large selection of edible insects and bug-related products for both the retail and wholesale markets. According to the company’s website, ThailandUnique.com was created to meet the demands of the world’s growing numbers of entomophagists — humans who consume insects. “More than 1,000 species of insects are known to be eaten in over 80% of the world’s nations. These folks know how to get their vitamins and lysine, courtesy of Mother Nature,” according to the website. — Brad Harbison