Splendor in the Frass

Abstract

FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, THE MOST CONSPICUOUS EXAMPLE OF CULTURAL USE OF FRASS HAS BEEN “INSECT TEA,” A TRADITIONAL BEVERAGE THAT IS CONSUMED BY LOCAL POPULATIONS IN THE MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS OF SOUTHERN CHINA, INCLUDING GUANGXI, YUNNAN, AND GUIXHOU. Because insects have long been part of the human experience, insect excrement has also long been part of the human experience, but for most of the time people have walked the planet, they really haven’t paid that much attention to it. Consequently, insect excrement, or frass, hasn’t had as much of a tangible impact on human culture as have other materials produced by insects. For hundreds of years, the most conspicuous example of cultural use of frass has been “insect tea,” a traditional beverage that is consumed by local populations in the mountainous regions of southern China, including Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guixhou. With historical records dating back to The Compendium of Materia...