Insects in General

“Made in Oaxaca” and a grasshopper,
an item in the pre-Columbian diet of this region.
(Photo, S. Wood, Nov. 2013)

Grasshoppers

In this section we are assembling resources that might be helpful in developing a curricular unit about chapulines, or grasshoppers, a part of the diet of indigenous peoples of Mexico since prehispanic times.  Chapulin (also spelled chapolin) is a Nahuatl word for grasshopper or locust. These insects are often seasoned with chiles.

Chapulines with radishes and squash blossoms, Merced Market, Oaxaca (S. Wood, 2011)

Chapulines taco filling, Oaxaca. (Photo, Robert Haskett, 2005)

There are many videos of people looking at or eating grasshoppers, but the degree of cultural sensitivity varies. You can Google “eating grasshoppers” or “chapulines” and “Oaxaca” to see what you might find.

Axayacatl Bugs

This bug shares its name with a famous Aztec emperor, who expanded the empire significantly with conquests of neighboring regions in the 1470s.

On the bug, see Mexicolore’s article, “Astonishing Axayacatl” (Matthew McDavitt, ethnozoologist).

Worms