{"id":2133,"date":"2016-11-20T10:33:02","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T17:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2133"},"modified":"2016-11-20T10:33:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T17:33:02","slug":"fairmont-mayakoba-offers-one-of-a-kind-dining-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/uncategorized\/2133\/fairmont-mayakoba-offers-one-of-a-kind-dining-experience","title":{"rendered":"Fairmont Mayakoba Offers One of a Kind Dining Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"bugs1\"

Bugs and beer! A bug buffet is a delicacy at Fairmont Mayakoba<\/p><\/div>\n

You may be grateful that bugs and beer are not on your Thanksgiving table; but in Mexico, the creepy crawlies are an appreciated delicacy. Fairmont Mayakoba Riviera Maya, near Playa del Carmen just south of Cancun, offers luxury resort guests an \u201cInsect Degustation\u201d experience pairing edible insects with craft beers or flights of mescal, for $75 per-person.<\/p>\n

With a dose of dread I sat in the Fairmont\u2019s fancy Laguna Restaurant\u2019s private dining room overlooking one of the miles of navigable canals that stream through the beachfront resort, golf course, spa and nature preserve. Chef Erika Montesinos elegantly presented the first course of the unique cultural experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEscamole is the eggs of the Chicatana ant – a very aggressive, big, biting ant. The eggs are difficult to get,\u201d she said. \u201cWe saut\u00e9 them with Mexican Epazote herbs, garlic, and butter and set them on a tiny, crisp tortilla chip like caviar. They are creamy in texture and high in protein and vitamins.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the chef was telling me this Luisa Salgado, the beer sommelier, was pouring a Calavera Witbier, micro-brewed in Mexico City, to wash it down.<\/p>\n

The next course: small grasshoppers. \u201cThey\u2019re organic. We can only get them during the rainy season when they surface so they are expensive. We dry them, saut\u00e9 them in onion and garlic and stuff them into a soft tortilla,\u201d said Montesinos. The grasshopper\u2019s fried taste and texture went best with Calavera\u2019s Dubel beer, which is a bit smokier.<\/p>\n

Acocil, tiny crayfish, were served next with pico do gallo, tomato, cilantro and guacamole sitting on a slice of dragon fruit with a pickled red onion on top. It was like a shrimp salad except it\u2019s crunchier since one eats the heads, legs, and shells, and washes them down with Calavera Tripel brew.<\/p>\n

Lastly the Chimicuil worms, which come in white or red – the red ones are skinnier and crunchier \u2013 and are sometimes eaten alive in a tortilla. These were long dead \u2013 flash-fried so they could be served standing up in a piece of hollowed-out tuna like chewy, gritty breadsticks. \u201cYou might harvest only three or four of these worms all day in one field, so they are a delicacy,\u201d Chef Montesinos insisted.<\/p>\n

What serves as desert after such an earthy culinary experience? Rich chocolate cake and ice cream were the reward! I confess, though, I did not qualify for even a spoonful of the sweets since I demurred from actually chomping on the critter cuisine!<\/p>\n

Visit www.Fairmont.com\/mayakoba<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or via TravelTattler.com\u00a0His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may be grateful that bugs and beer are not on your Thanksgiving table; but in Mexico, the creepy crawlies… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/11\/bugs1-e1479663039350.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2135,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions\/2135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}