Scorpion tamales, larvae tacos and worm tostadas are on the menu at Denver’s La Diabla this week

Growing up in Mexico City, it was common for Jose Avila to snack on the edible bugs at the markets around town with his grandma and mom after school.

So, the James Beard-nominated chef didn’t think it would be odd to ship 22 pounds of dried crickets, Chicatana ants, escamoles, scorpions, stink bugs and maguey worms in thermic boxes with iced gel packs from his hometown to Denver, where he’d planned to host a Festival de Bichos (Bug Festival) at his downtown restaurant, La Diabla Pozolería y Mezcalería, earlier this month.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection had other plans.

“The bugs ended up getting stuck in Customs for three days,” Avila said. “All I was told was that they were sent to the lab, but I think they just wanted to make sure the bugs were actually bugs and not something else.”

Luckily, for all the adventurous foodies or history lovers who want to eat like the Aztecs and other ancient indigenous people of Mexico, Avila was able to secure the edible insects from the customs division last week. Although, it was a quick moment of panic, “because these bugs aren’t cheap; some of them can go up to $150 per pound,” he said.

The Festival de Bichos will now take place from Wednesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 19, and guests can try a $66.60 sampler platter of roasted crickets, Chicatana ants, escamoles (edible ant or fly larvae known as Mexican caviar), scorpions, small stink bugs and red maguey worms. Avila will also incorporate the insects into a special menu with tacos with buttered escamoles, salsa verde, and serrano peppers; maguey worm tostadas with huitlacoche and avocado; and scorpion tamales with pineapple and chocolate.

“This is the type of food I love to cook, you know, like pozole,” Avila said. “A lot of people have no idea what it is, let alone with different flavors, or the whole-animal barbacoa. So in a way, I want to introduce people to new foods, like Yucatan foods.”

Eating insects has been a tradition in Mexico for thousands of years, dating back to the Aztecs, who saw them as a vital source of protein. Mexico City hosts its own annual edible insect festival, where restaurants highlight grasshoppers, crickets, worms and escamoles on their menus.

That was part of the inspiration for Festival de Bichos at La Diabla, 2233 Larimer St., which opened in 2021, was named as one of Bon Appétit’s 50 best new restaurants in 2022.

“We can’t let these traditions and recipes get lost,” Avila said. “It’s part of my job and purpose to keep these traditions alive.”

But Avila also got a lot of feedback earlier this year when he posted a photo of a cricket taco on Instagram, which received 700 likes and 100 comments from people, some of whom were interested in trying it and others who were disgusted. Avila had added the taco to the menu as a way to slowly introduce the Mexican tradition and to see what the reaction was.