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How far would you go to win a gold bar? Chinese tourist eats 1.23kg of insects

The unnamed visitor to the southwestern town of Lijiang came out tops in a competition to see who could eat the most of the town’s famous delicacies

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Contestants get stuck in at the insect eating challenge in Lijiang, Yunnan province, on Sunday. Photo: Handout
Zhuang Pinghuiin Beijing

One brave Chinese tourist has become the proud owner of a gold bar, but only after eating 1.23 kilograms of fried insects in a competition.

The visitor to the scenic town of Lijiang in southwestern Yunnan province downed the offerings of bamboo worms and locusts within five minutes on Sunday, pronouncing his first taste of the local speciality “delicious”, news website Yunnan.cn reported.

It did not say how much the gold bar was worth.

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Tastes like... chicken? Photo: Handout
Tastes like... chicken? Photo: Handout

Insects have been a part of Yunnan cuisine for centuries, long before their potential as sustainable sources of protein caught the eye of the western world. Bee larvae, grasshoppers and cicadas are just some items to be found on menus in the region.

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