15 December 2025
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The chef-owner of AKKEE, who also holds the MICHELIN Young Chef Award Presented by Blancpain for 2025, embraces insects as a food of the future, serving them both as snacks and as optional flavor boosters in the restaurant’s Thai dishes.
Beyond the Thai flavors at AKKEE — the one MICHELIN Star restaurant featured in The MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2026, known for recipes drawn from old manuscripts and dishes cooked solely with wood and fire using traditional methods — there is something else Chef Sittikorn “Au” Chantop is equally passionate and proud to showcase: insects.
Insects as Food From Memory
While insects may not sound appetizing to many, for Chantop they are tied to childhood memories — something he has long been passionate about and eager to study on his own. From a nutritional standpoint, insects are now considered a food of the future: a natural protein source that is easy to breed, fast-growing and abundant. Today, insect farms can be found throughout Thailand.
“I’ve been serving insects for about six years, starting back when I ran a craft beer bar, where they were offered as bar snacks. When I opened AKKEE, I wanted to bring insects into the restaurant as well. It’s a personal preference — I’ve eaten insects since I was a kid. When I went back home to Ubon Ratchathani, I couldn’t handle spicy food yet, so my family would cook insects for me. There were silkworm pupae, ants, queen ants and red ant eggs. Over time, they simply became something I loved.”
And if you ask just how deep Chef Chantop’s fascination with insects goes, he puts it this way: “Once I began studying them, I realized insects appear in dishes across every region of Thailand. They’re not just for roasting or frying — insects can also be used in chili pastes or curries. I studied them so much that I can now eat an insect with my eyes closed and identify the species, because each one has a distinct flavor.”
An Edible Insect Lab
When guests walk into the grounds of AKKEE, beyond the lush garden and chicken coop outside, they’ll find another building that will soon welcome diners in the future. Inside is a small insect-breeding lab and a miniature exhibition of edible insects — all species Chantop has served at the restaurant and collected over time.As for the insect-breeding lab, the chef hopes to eventually raise his own insects for use in the restaurant. He currently works with several farmers who supply him with insects from different regions.
“Many of the insects we serve at the restaurant are only available for about one month each year. If I can’t source them during that period, I miss the chance entirely. That’s why we collect every species we’ve ever served and create an edible insect gallery. In the breeding room, we’re currently raising four species: queen ants, sago beetle larvae, cicadas and crickets,” he says.
The Nonthaburian chef also shared that AKKEE’s kitchen produces almost no fresh food waste. He uses leftover vegetable and fruit scraps from prep work to make feed for the insects — and interestingly, these scraps can change the insects’ flavor. For example, crickets raised on pumpkin develop a softer, more delicate taste when fried.
“We’re now experimenting with feeding sago beetle larvae with coconut pulp left over from pressing coconut milk. Since these larvae naturally live inside coconut trees, I figured coconut would taste good to them. So we feed them coconut along with dried fish for extra protein.”
As for other food scraps that can’t be repurposed, Chantop gives them to the larvae he raises to break down organic waste. Once the larvae mature, they are used as feed for the chickens on the property.
How to Enjoy Eating Insects: A Beginner’s Guide
The moment we saw the freshly fried insects Chef Chantop brought out — cooked to order every time — their aroma alone made them hard to resist. So we asked the chef to recommend five types of insects for beginners or anyone curious to start. His advice: “Begin with whatever you feel comfortable with.” So far, no guest at AKKEE has ever tried one and spit it out; instead, they’re often surprised by how delicious they are and become more willing to try other varieties.Sago Beetle Larvae
This is the first insect the chef recommends for newcomers. Its flavor is rich and buttery, similar to potatoes. Though many people assume these plump larvae are full of liquid, the chef deep-fries them twice in pork fat until crisp, then seasons them with salt. The taste is savory and nutty, almost like potato chips — perfect with chili paste instead of pork cracklings.
Queen Ants (Maeng Man)
They resemble large ants but have a surprisingly fragrant taste, similar to Parmesan cheese. Because this insect contains natural oils, it can be dry-roasted without added fat. Sprinkle with a little salt and enjoy as is, or mix into chili paste.
Cicadas
Sourced from farms in Northern Thailand, cicadas can be eaten in all five stages of their life cycle. The eggs are extremely tiny, rare and expensive — about 4 baht each — because they’re difficult to find. As they grow through each stage, the flavor changes. For example, the larvae have a peanut-like taste. “No matter the insect, the eggs are always the most expensive part because they’re fragile and difficult to store. Take queen ants, for example: buying them whole costs around 2,000 to 3,000 baht per kilogram, but the eggs can run from 3,000 to over 5,000 baht. They’re quite a luxury ingredient,” Chantop explains.
Ground Beetles (Maeng Kra Chon)
These insects have an earthy flavor because they live in the soil. They also happen to be one of Chantop’s personal favorites, especially when paired with beer. They can be boiled, fried or dry-roasted.
Jing Krong (Field Crickets)
Similar to regular crickets, the females are smaller than the males. At AKKEE, the restaurant serves jing krong both with and without eggs. According to the chef, this insect is delicious when pounded into chili paste or ground and mixed into other dishes.
The Chef’s Favorites
“I really love yam mae peng (queen ant salad). I also enjoy red ants — especially when eaten with kradon leaves, which makes everything wonderfully aromatic. When I’m in Korat, I usually stop by a market that sells red ant salad. They add young red ant eggs, and it’s incredibly delicious. Queen ants have a rich, nutty taste, unlike the sourness of red ants. I once took my team back to my hometown in Ubon Ratchathani to collect red ant eggs and gather ants to make lab pla. I didn’t need any lime juice — the ants themselves provided the acidity.”“As for dishes I’ve made and loved, one of my favorites is bamboo shoots with red ant eggs and dung beetles. It’s a dish that really impressed me — it made me think, ‘How did anyone come up with this?’ The aroma of the dung beetles is so unique and distinctive.”
Eating Insects Means Supporting Thai Farmers
Chef Chantop’s goal isn’t just to raise insects himself. What he and his team are doing aligns with AKKEE’s broader mission: to support Thai farmers — not only through produce and ingredients, but through the insects used in the restaurant as well.“I want to see better livelihoods for farmers who raise insects, and I want more people to consider insect farming. Insect farms release far fewer greenhouse gases compared with other forms of livestock. Insects can eat leftover food scraps from the kitchen, which reduces carbon emissions even further.”
“For example, we’re now experimenting with changing the diet of crickets and field crickets, feeding them leftover fruit trimmings like rose apples, guavas, pomelos, watermelons and pumpkins to see whether their flavor changes.”
The rising star also described his visits to the sago beetle farms that supply the restaurant. He noted that these farms require very little — simply ground sago palm trunks for the larvae to feed on.
“The farmers have a lot of experience and have gone through a lot of trial and error. They’re always happy to teach us because they’ve visited the restaurant and can see we’re serious about what we’re doing. They don’t see us raising insects as competition. Instead, they believe our work helps expand the market for insect farms. And I’ve learned a great deal from them.”
Header image: © Anuwat Senivansa Na Ayudhya/The MICHELIN Guide Thailand
