Farmers Concerned about Disappearing Traditional Food

Farmers Concerned about Disappearing Traditional Food

A small number of farmers near Lake Texcoco, Mexico, fear that a tradition dating back to the Aztec Empire may disappear.

The tradition involves collecting and eating the eggs of an insect known as the “bird fly.”

The bug, which only occasionally appears before going again under the water, would not look like food to most. But it was once important to the people of the Valley of Mexico.

For Juan Hernández, a farmer from San Cristóbal Nezquipayac, cultivating and collecting the tiny insect eggs known as “ahuautle” or “Mexican caviar” is a way of life.