At Phnom Penh's central Phsar Thmey market,

which features a huge of variety of commodities from clothing to jewelry and cosmetics to food, fried crickets, Cambodian insect food, fried crickets in Cambodia, spiders and silk worms have pride of place around the entrances.

And the crickets, the male of which is said to have a delightful ''herbal medicine'' flavors are by far the most popular treat for Cambodians and, increasingly, foreign visitors.

Tourists are even starting to ask for special packaging from stall-holders so they can take the deep-fried delicacies home with them to the United States, France, Australia and China, among other destinations. Japanese tourists, too, are high on the growing list of outsiders who have become aficionados.

Deep-fried and salted Cambodia food and exotic snacks, the crunchy insects are particularly prized by drinkers as a counterpoint to alcohol, but non-drinkers, especially among women, are top consumers too, the cricket vendors say. Sok Teak, 25, a cricket-vendor at the market for five years, said her business is good, but she admitted it is down from recent years, apparently because of drought that has hit some of the prime cricket-catching areas.

Still, she is selling about 50 kilograms of Cambodia food and exotic snacks like fried crickets a day, she said and on good days, particularly when tourists seek packages to take back home, she can sell 10 kilograms to 20 kilograms more.

A young Cambodian woman, who dropped by Sok Teak's stall while she was

talking with Kyodo News, ordered a package to take back home to France for her sister, even though she knows French customs officials will confiscate the crickets at the airport in Paris if they discover them. ''I like fried crickets. They are full of taste and worth the risk at customs,'' San Chanthida, who has been living in France for three years, said. Sok Teak sells her crickets by the milk can for the bulk customers and or by a 52-cricket count for snackers.

The Cambodia food and exotic snacks like a 52-cricket pack costs between 4,000 riels and 5,000 riels ($1 to $1.25) for a satisfying crunch while browsing the market's other attractions. The best crickets, Sok Teak says, come from the provinces of Kompong Thom, Kompong Cham, and Kandal, all located along the shores of Cambodia's grand lake Tonle Sap and the Mekong River.

Cambodia food and exotic snacks from Kompong Thom, in Cambodia's heartland, is particularly famous for its annual cricket catch and is known as the country's leading cricket exporter. But the continuing drought across much of Cambodia is hampering cricket-catchers as well as farmers. This year's catch may well drop below last year's paltry 70 tons, which itself was a dramatic drop from about 100 tons caught in 2002, warned Em Thean, a director at the Kompong Thom agriculture department. The crickets, which flourish in the watery soil of the Tonle Sap, have declined in recent years due to the drought, but the number of catching spots and catchers has increased to 2,000, Em Thean said, noting that can mean less money for each catcher.

Starting from the first rains in late May until December, Kompong Thom town at night is aglow with thousands of ultraviolet lights the cricket-catchers use to attract the insects.

Em Thean said a family can net up to 60 kilograms on a good night, worth about $36 to middlemen who buy the bugs and package them on ice for transport to markets in Phnom Penh, and in Thailand where cricket-crunching is also popular.

Cricket aficionados such as Pok Karina, 23, who has been chomping the chitinous critters since she was six, say it is simply the good taste that keeps them coming pack to the Phsar Thmey for an insect treat.

Others, without the any scientific proof at all, firmly believe eating a few crickets regularly can keep one healthy and prolong life.

Chef Bourdain simply found them reasonably good.

Asian Economic News,
PHNOM PENH, Kyodo

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