Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Locusts and Al-Hassa

My father-in-law used to tell us about how difficult life used to be before oil. Al-Hassa, being an agricultural city, could be dessimated by a locust invasion before modern and efficient trade with areas outside the city were established. When asked how they coped once all their crops and food were consumed by the locusts he said, "we'd eat the locusts".


YUM!

15 comments:

Luisa said...

FAO report last week spoke about UAE, Oman and Yemen but didn't mention Saudia .
A guy at the Min of Agriculture in Oman, said that the situation here is not serious .
Now am really worried ...

Saudi Stepford Wife-Daisy said...

balqis- btw, cool name! I wonder to what extent they can predict their path? The reason they saw this swarm is because it was actually spotted moving towards us.

Marie-Aude said...

Well good luck.
We had locusts a few years ago, and that was already impressive, though the swarm was not really big, and they were not mature (still red).

Amoola said...

assallamu alaikum sis,

When I was there on hajj this year I saw quite alot of locusts around the Prophets masjid a night. One even had the privelege of taking a rest on my head under my niqaab flap! LOL.

I felt sorry for the poor things though, because when I walked around the mosque in the morning time, many lay dead or dying on the marble.

Luisa said...

In fact in our newspapers they didn't mention or we would be in complete panic like Gonu days
But then we have Gulfnews always ready to catch the confessions of an anonymous official :P
For now am busy to fight the cockroaches in the kitchen
Allah ahlam

UmmFarouq said...

I'll take mine with a side of fries.

L_Oman said...

I've heard of people eating them here in the past too. They look all juicy and crunchy at the same time. Yum. (ha. I'm kidding)

Kris said...

How would you market that? Locust, it's whats for dinner or Locust the other white (or not so white) meat just popped in my head when I read that lol.

Saudi Stepford Wife-Daisy said...

marie-aude- wow, those locusts sure get around!

4everhopeful- I don't know if I'd feel too bad for them, they kinda remind me of roaches (and the roaches around here are bigger than the mice!)

balqis- subhanullah, after I get done writing about our friends, the roaches...I read your comment, LOL! I'm more concerned about roaches too. I used to worry about one carrying off my baby while at my in-laws house in "the ghetto". Al-Humdulillah in the place we live now I've only seen 3 roaches in 3 years.

ummfarouq- I'll take mine shawarma-style, wrapped in a pita with tahina:-P

l-oman- to be truthful, I can barely choke down crustaceans because they look like big bugs to me, let alone ACTUAL bugs.

mama kalila- OMG! that's too much! Or instead of KFC its KFL...bread 'em and deep fry 'em.

Amoola said...

Roaches bigger than mice? I think I'd still prefer a locust. Roaches creep me out.

Anonymous said...

LOL, I remember when we were younger,some older kids(boys) would catch grasshoppers and cook them, I think it was grasshoppers,can't really remember though,it could be locusts,yummy! sf

Saudi Stepford Wife-Daisy said...

sf- my daughter told me they're eating crickets too...but I take everything she says with a pinch of salt.

Suburban said...

My man was reading Larouse Gastronomique last night, and found a listing for Locusts. Aparrently there are only two edible species.

I can't belive Larouse has an entry for Locusts.

Daisy, please,please, please, update?

Anonymous said...

As salam 'aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh; try eating crickets.

Joy said...

Dear Daisy
Assalam alaikum
I found your blog today while looking up information on Islam. I was happy, and it is my life also. I too, am married to a hassawi, and had the locusts that you were talking about.
Would love to discuss al hasa with you, lipstick912002@yahoo.com.
alaykum assalam
Um Abdullah