Outside Hanoi, a business is really hopping

By Ngoc Thanh June 19, 2018 | 04:34 pm PT

It's summer, the World Cup's on, and a swarm of locusts have landed on pub menus in Hanoi.

Locals in the suburb of Hanoi these days are getting their hands busy with processing locust to provide for pubs and restaurants in the city.

Residents of a Hanoi suburb are busy these days with processing locusts that will be supplied to pubs and restaurants in the capital city.

Some families stand out as wholesalers to buy in locusts from nearby provinces. The locusts were boiled before they are transferred to other families for the next processing steps: removing the wings.

Some families work as locust wholesalers, buying them from nearby provinces. The locusts are boiled before they are transferred to other families for the next steps in processing: removing the wings.

This woman is carrying a bag of boiled lotus from a wholesalers to her home.

This woman is carrying a bag of boiled locusts from a wholesaler to her home for further processing.

Around 50 families in My Duc District take part in the locust business. Locust usually appear in the paddy harvesting season, or May and October, Nguyen Thi Hoa in Le Thanh Commune says

With the schools' summer break in session, many kids help remove wings from the insects.

Around 50 families in My Duc District are involved in the locust business. “Locusts usually appear the most during the paddy harvesting season, in May and October,” said Nguyen Thi Hoa, a resident of Le Thanh Commune.

Dang Thi Cam, 89, said she has spends her summer days picking lotus wings with other family members just for fun and a little payment. She gets around VND30,000 for removing wings of 2-3 kilos of locusts in four hours.

Dang Thi Cam, 89, says she has been spending her summer days picking locust wings along with other family members “just for fun and a little payment.” She gets around VND30,000 ($1.31) for removing wings from 2-3 kilos of locusts, which takes her about four hours.

The processed locusts are then packed in boxes with ice and sold to pubs and restaurants in Hanoi at the price of VND160,000 ($7) per kilo, Nguyen Ngoc Hien says.

The processed locusts are packed in boxes with ice and sold to pubs and restaurants in Hanoi for VND160,000 ($7) per kilo, says Nguyen Ngoc Hien, another resident of Le Thanh Commune.

In time when there are big sports event such as World Cup or Euro, families in Le Thanh normally work around the clock to meet the higher the demand for processed locusts of restaurants in Hanoi.

At a time when there are big sports events like the World Cup or Euro, families in Le Thanh work around the clock to meet the higher demand for processed locusts from restaurants in Hanoi.