Jeffrey H. Cohen's "Eating Grasshoppers"

Jeffrey H. Cohen is a professor in the department of anthropology at Ohio State University and the author or coeditor of several books, including Eating Soup without a Spoon: Anthropological Theory and Method in the Real World.

He applied the "Page 99 Test" to his new book, Eating Grasshoppers: Chapulines and the Women Who Sell Them, with the following results:

Eating Grasshoppers, tells the story of the women who sell toasted grasshoppers (chapulineras selling chapulines) in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Page 99, in the chapter “Building a Touchless Economy,” follows chapulineras as they create a touchless economy in response to the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lockdowns devastated Oaxaca’s rural and urban marketplaces. The impact was immediate; sales fell, and it became difficult for chapulineras to connect with their clientele. The page notes the importance of cell phones to new and old clients and allowing people settled far from Oaxaca who now had the opportunity to order for delivery.

Page 99 makes clear the role cell phones play: “Bargaining and sales that might have been missed or simply impossible to conduct in the past can take place;” and sets the stage to understand how chapulineras used cellular services to create a touchless economy and manage the lockdowns.

For readers, page 99 is a good page to land upon. You’ll likely want to learn more about the ways chapulineras beat the lockdown and save a lot of people from going hungry! Ideally the readers’ interests are piqued, and they will want to learn more about these entrepreneurial women and how they created a dynamic market system. These topics and more are covered in parts I and II of the full text.

The story of the women who sell toasted grasshoppers is one of entrepreneurial success. It is easy to think that chapulineras are following in the footsteps of history; prepping edible insects as their ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Reality is more complex. Eating Grasshoppers recounts the historical importance of chapulines, and documents how chapulineras 1) meet the growing demands of restauranteurs and foodies; 2) connect with and export to consumers abroad; 3) create a touchless economy during the pandemic and 4) navigate the challenges of rural poverty.

Visit Jeffrey H. Cohen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue