Eating ant eggs

Eating Ant eggs

Alifufutu is what fried ant eggs are called in Tinglayan.

Big nests are hacked from trees and quickly stuffed into a big sack before the worker ants can carry away all the eggs.

A big ant nest can yield 2 kilos of eggs.

A volunteer climbs up the tree and hacks the nest and drops it to those waiting on the ground.

Kalinga men from Tinglayan

They throw the nest into a bag and try to shake the surrounding ants into a pot while they are still carrying the eggs. Speed is the key because the ants are annoyed and will try to protect whats left of the nest and are biting like mad.

I took a few hits while trying to get pictures but was surprised that the bites did not really sting that bad.

Still I wouldn’t be the one to volunteer to climb the tree.

The eggs are fried up ants and all and taste a bit like fresh popcorn when they are still hot and salted.

When they get cold they are like soggy french fries. Not very tasty.

Once again I had problems with the focus on my camera but you get the general idea.

Fried Ant Eggs