‘Delicious’: the red ant chutney Gordon Ramsay loved, and how it’s made

“The best time to harvest kai is at dawn when the ants are less active and haven’t yet mobilised themselves enough to attack in groups.”

After being caught, the ants are crushed, collected in bags and washed. Once dried, they are ready to be cooked and eaten.

Red weaver ants – the scientific name for which is Oecophylla smaragdina – are abundant in Mayurbhanj throughout the year, says Deepen Mohanty, a member of the Mayurbhanj Kai Society that promotes the region’s indigenous foods.

“Kai are distinguished by their tropical habitat and colour. Nutrient-dense, they are a rich source of protein, fibre and minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus,” he says.

Mohanty adds: “The chutney is popular not just for its delicious taste but also for its medicinal properties. It addresses coughs, colds, aches and pains. The ants’ high levels of formic acid, amped up by seasonings, make this chutney extremely hot.”

Mohanty, who belongs to the Bathudi, a tribe that has been eating the ant chutney for centuries, adds that the ants are tastiest as larvae or adults.

“This is when the ants are optimally developed and produce maximum flavour. We grind them with green chillies and salt on a sila pua, a flat stone and a cylindrical grinding stone, and eat them fresh,” he says.

Tomatoes, coriander, garlic, ginger, chilli, salt and a pinch of sugar are added to make an umami paste that complements bread and curry, and makes a tasty addition to thali meals (served on a large, round plate and typically including a selection of curries, chutneys and other condiments).

Some tribes also make soup from red weaver ant paste, while others sauté the ants in oil and salt to eat as a snack.

“Kai chutney has a unique taste, unlike any other relish. It is crunchy and tangy with a strong umami kick,” says Madhulika Dash, an Odisha-based food anthropologist who claims to have “eaten a lot of insect chutneys”.

Dash, who has done extensive research on ants as food, says the ants are a winter dish in northeast and eastern India. “Because of the painstaking way [they are] harvested, [they’re] a novelty, and available only for a limited time of the year.”

Mohanty says other tribes also eat insects; the Nyishi and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern state on the border with China, eat dragonflies, while Udonga montana bugs make a popular fried snack in the northeastern state of Manipur.

“Kai chutney is also popular in our neighbouring Jharkhand (state) and Chhattisgarh (state)’s Bastar region, where it’s called chaprah (meaning “leaf basket”), a reference to the nests that the ants make using the leaves,” he adds.

Such is the appeal of red weaver ant chutney that cafes and restaurants in Odisha have added it to their menus. Hotels organise culinary tours to take guests to meet foragers, who enlighten them about ant harvesting and chutney making.

The Belgadia Palace is a 300-year-old heritage hotel run by Mrinalika and Akshita Bhanj Deo. The sisters represent the 48th generation of the Bhanj dynasty that once ruled over Mayurbhanj, and offer experiences with indigenous communities to promote local culture.

“We do local tours which include guests visiting the local weekly haats (markets) to understand the local vegetables, spices, and meat sold fresh by tribal farmers,” one of the sisters says.

“A prominent stop is at the farmers’ stalls selling the red weaver ants, which are wrapped in sal leaves, either in a paste or chutney form or raw. Guests love photographing or foraging here and trying out local delicacies,” she adds.

The sisters hope securing a GI tag for kai chutney will encourage “more culinary tours and travels to Odisha’s undiscovered regions, to inform people about India’s unique intangible cultural heritage”.

Bug eating is not unique to India. Entomophagy – the practice of eating insects – has at certain times in history been widespread among Greek, Roman, Egyptian, African and Chinese civilisations.

A book that has survived since the Roman Empire, Naturalis Historia, or Natural History, details the consumption of a variety of insects for their taste and curative powers.

Modern inhabitants of Mexico City, in Mexico, are fond of escamoles – nicknamed “Mexican caviar” – the edible larvae and pupae of ants. In northeastern Thailand, omelettes garnished with weaver ant eggs are a popular snack.

Boiled dragonflies in Indonesia, fire-roasted tarantula spiders in Latin America, and fried winged termites in Ghana are also much-loved delicacies. Arabic and Libyan nomads were known to eat dried locusts in years gone by.

A Tang dynasty cookbook, written between 618 and 907AD, references the uses of wasp larvae and pupae in Chinese cuisine in ancient times.

Slow-food advocates encourage insect consumption for its sustainable and health benefits; bugs are a rich source of fibre and protein and, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, they are great for human and planetary health.

Those still unconvinced of the benefits of eating insects might do well to remember the four-course meal of bugs – some still alive – actress Nicole Kidman tucked into (and appeared to enjoy) last year. She called the insects delicious “micro-livestock”.