A two-Michelin-starred restaurant in South Korea is facing hefty fines and up to a year’s jail time for garnishing a sherbet dessert with ants. The problem isn’t that insects appeared on the menu, but rather, the issue is South Korea’s nuanced food laws, which regulate which insects can go on diners’ plates.

Food Laws in South Korea

Prosecutors have indicted the owner of the restaurant for violating the Food Sanitation Act. The restaurant had been serving dried ants brought in from the US and Thailand since 2021, with about 49,000 ants served in 12,200 sherbet dishes. While it is the chef who prepared the dish and put it on the menu, prosecutors have targeted the owner of the restaurant.

Lawyers representing the restaurant said its chef used ants to add acidity to the dish, without realizing that the recipe he once used in the US and Europe is legally banned in South Korea. The restaurant only served ants to about 60% of the customers and the ants were clearly identified on the menu as part of the dish.

Edible Insects Trend

Advocates in South Korea and elsewhere have increasingly argued that insects are just as reliable a source of protein as other animal products. Given how easily they are raised and harvested with fewer resources than are needed for more traditional livestock, insects present an effective way to combat climate change.

South Korean cuisine doesn’t frown on insects. Beondegi, for example, is a traditional steamed silkworm pupae snack served by street vendors in paper cups. But under the country’s Food Sanitation Act, only 10 insect species, including grasshoppers and silkworms, are permitted for human consumption. Serving any other insect – like ants – requires special approval from authorities.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.