Bhadradri Kothagudem (Telangana): Have you ever heard about red ant chutney? This rather unusual delicacy is prepared by the Adivasis of the Manyam area. They collect red ants and their eggs to make pickles. The Adivasis of Cherla and Dummugudem of Bhadradri Kothagudem district and in the villages bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana collect red ant eggs during summer and make chutney out of them.
Though it is commonly known that red ants attack fiercely by biting, causing swelling and hives, leaving people squirming in pain. Yet these tribes believe that the ants’ bite also helps cure several diseases. Hence, they go out of their way to catch them from the leaves and nodes of the branches of big trees inside the forest. Once caught, the red ant eggs are also sold in the village fairs held in the area.
Nowadays, even vendors are selling the chutney at markets in small packets of Sal leaves. Although the venture first starts in the forest where the tribes climb the big trees and try to bring down the ant hives with a stick. This is where hundreds of ants crawl over them and bite. But they willingly get bitten as they believe that ant bite has medicinal benefits.
Once they have collected the ants and the eggs, they take the collected eggs from ant hives and boil them first. They add onion, green chili, and salt to the eggs and grind all the ingredients into a paste using mortar and pestle. They then mix the chutney with hot rice and eat it during the summer, as they believe that the chutney is cooling for the body. This tribal delicacy caught the attention of celebrity cook Gordon Ramsay too, as he had tried the delicacy during his trip to India.
