Sago worms are eaten raw in Mukah, where it is considered a delicacy of sorts. Sago worms looks a lot like huge, fat maggots with spiny fangs.
The worms will actually bite you if you touch it’s head, which is why it’s advisable to tear the head off before consuming it raw.
Sago worms are sold live, in packets of RM 5 and you can still see the worms wriggling around in the packet.
The native habitat of sago worms is inside the trunk of a sago palm tree. The worms are kept in the sago flour and picked out and packaged into manageable sizes.
The sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Live Sago Worms
Step 1: Pick a big, fat and juicy worm. Care should be taken to not touch the sago worm’s head since it has pincers that will bite you. The pincers are used to burrow into the sago palm trunk so it’s quite sharp.
Step 2: Look the sago worm in it’s eyes. You’re about to pull it’s head off and eat it so it’s only polite to smile at it before doing so. Worms have feelings too.
Step 3: After the niceties has been done away with, it is time for heads to roll. Grip the squirming worm firmly with one hand and use the forefinger and thumb of your other hand to grasp the sago worm’s head and rip it off.
Step 4: Insert the still wriggling worm into your mouth.
Step 5: Chew. Take the time to savor the taste of live sago worms. There is a burst of flavor when you first bite into the wriggling worm from the innards spilling out onto your palate. Delicious!
Caution:
Care should be taken when plucking the head off the sago worm. The innards can cause a bit of Splash Damage (TM) as can be seen with Clare’s spaghetti strap top.
Thanks to the friendly people at the sago worm stall in Mukah for showing us the proper way to consume a live sago worm.
Sago worms are delicious! It’s a little bit like Pringles, once you start, you can’t stop. I ate a lot of the worms with Clare. She overcame the Fear Factor bit and ate a couple of the worms too.
Here’s another video guide to eating live sago worms. I took three videos of the process just to get it right. Heh!
Sago worms. Mmm…tastes like chicken! 🙂
Wah so cute also can eat ah? 🙂 I heard they taste like butter or something?
looks digusting! But seem nice as u ate that.hehe
Theres another type of worm which is like the earth worm and usually hide in a tree trunk and usually plp use for fishing. I saw on TV the native eat it raw and I think its more disgusting thats these.Anway HB at least you equal the guts of Kenny Sia of eating raw snake organ. Heard the goodness of consuming this worm can improve your sexual performance ;p
they are in fact maggots, young maggots of the sago beetle. I heard some people saying that it has sago taste hehe
Step 5 – Ewww! Rating this 18PL.
…Are the worms ever eaten cooked? Just curious.
OMG!
Living sago worms? I don’t even dare to eat the cooked ones. Haha! Salute!!
Yucks…
I’ve never had sago worms, only the fried ones. Very lemak berkrim
Aiyooo, so dare yet so cruel. I only dare to try the smoked/dried version (siet salai). Taste like peanut + butter.
Roland maybe right. Accordng to the famous traditional chinese culinary believe: Yee Xing Pou Xing (meaning, what you eat is what your body parts will enhance). Therefore, eat sago worm may strengthen your dick. Can perform more wriggling & produce more Splash Damage© maybe… 😀
For the sago grub story, pls see this blog post of mine.
http://sarikei-time-capsule.blogspot.com/2006/06/food-sarikei-sago-grubs.html
I gotta admit, those grubs are kinda cute! And watching you eat them reminds me of my favorite childhood film The Lion King. :p
eeeh I guess I wouldn’t be able to eat one of these if it wasn’t necessary :/ I just can’t take on eating worms lol baaad childhood memories. Your shirt is cool btw 😀
Ooooo…what a big mouth you’ve got, Huai Bin!…..All the better to….??? Hahahahahahaha!!!
I don’t think I’d have the guts to eat a live one. Maybe cooked. What do they actually taste like … really? Do they ever cook them?
– David
Vince: Yeah, it tastes a lot like cream. They feed on sago palms and sago tastes kinda creamy so that’s probably where the taste came from.
shun2u: They can be eaten fried too if you don’t like the idea of eating it live. But the live ones are better. 🙂
Roland: Interesting! I heard about that too, gotta check it out. Where is it available?
Anyway, I’ve yet to see any blogger as hardcore as me in terms of raw guts both in Malaysia and overseas. 😉 Injecting videos and all that have been my forte since 2002. However, I had to go to rehab and all that so it’s not all fun and games. Heh!
Really? I gotta experiment on it then. My sexual life has not been as active as it should have been lately (which means in the last three days ;)) so I shall report on the efficacy of this sago worms on performance…tomorrow! 🙂
Darren: Maggots eh…at least they turn into beetles instead of flies. No wonder they have those pincer things. I was wondering how a soft worm can turn into a beetle with a carapace.
…and yeah, it DOES have a sago taste. 🙂
Giant Sotong: I noticed that too. 😉
It looks like a small one with the foreskin retracted eh? 😉
Yeah it’s also available deep fried but that completely ruins the taste of the sago worms. For tourists ok lah, but for travellers, nothing beats The Real Thing (TM).
Cokelatrawkz: You gotta try it at least once, it’s not as bad as you think. I eat just about anything anyway, you don’t even want to know the things I’ve put in my mouth.
Hmm…that didn’t sound quite right coming out. 😉
IcedNyior: Yeah! It’s very creamy eh?
Wilson: It’s nothing actually, just this adversion people have to worms. It’s not that bad. Eating chicken is cruel too but people don’t see the process, just the nicely dressed chicken on the supermarket shelves. 🙂
The fried ones doesn’t taste as juicy as the live ones.
Hmm…no wonder so many people go for Sup Power then. I never noticed any difference myself. But then again, I never noticed any difference with Viagra or Cialis either so it could just be me.
More Splash Damage (TM)? I like! 🙂
Daniel: Interesting history. Cheers!
jessy: They look cute but those pincers can give you a really good bite. It burrows into the TRUNK of a sago palm tree so it can bite you something aweful.
MI!: My philosophy of life is to try everything at least once. 😉
But I understand phobias. I’m very scared of spiders myself, also due to a bad childhood experience. I would be hesitant to try eating a live spider. Not adverse, I’ll still do it. But I’ll be quite scared doing it coz I’m afraid of spiders.
That would be my Banana Republic shirt that I only wear on vacations. 🙂
suituapui: Suck with? Popsicles. I go through popsicles like a kid through candy. 😉
I’m quite the cunning linguist too, you can ask our mutual friend. 😉
David: It tastes like cream. Custard cream, unsweetened. The skin tastes a bit like slippery steamed chicken skin, but tougher. Don’t eat the head though, pincers are sharp.
I’ve eaten them cooked as well, usually deep fried but it loses much of it’s taste prepared that way.
i’ll pass!… NEXT!
I’m craving for one now…any idea where to find those in Sibu?
…
geli…
o__O!…
*speechless*…
I think I wanna try one!…
At least…
it’s FUN!! hahaha…
So, does it really taste like chicken?
geee you got tongue piercing, how does it feel to have one? the worm is geli but nice… u shud try it BBQ. Yummy yummy yummy!
If i am not wrong, they meta morph into a pupa. I used to breed those little worms u see in fish shop s, then i got lazy to do so hehe
Dude, I tried, I couldn’t do it
I wonder what worm somebody’s craving for!!! Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
Suituapui: Sago worms lah, what the hell are u thinking? 😛
essentric: It’s fun though, eating a live sago worm. Next post would be the beach post. 🙂
Clare: I don’t know…perhaps the Central Market? I doubt it though, there’s not really a market for these things outside Mukah.
nkwai: Yeah, good on you, my friend. It’s fun to try new things. 🙂
No, it doesn’t taste like chicken, I was just kidding. It tastes like cream. The skin tastes a little bit (texture) like steamed chicken though.
(=’.’=): Hmm…it feels the same. It’s just like any other piercing and I have pierced most of my face. It feels wierd the first two days and after that you get used to it and it would feel wierd to not have it. It’s like wearing a necklace or ring for the first time. It feels foreign at first but after a few days, you don’t notice it anymore.
Darren: OMG! I was told it changes into a beetle. Why would you be breeding the worms? For fun or profit?
e: Hmm…I think the tricky part is getting hold of the worm, after that make like Nike and Just Do It. 🙂
suituapui: I’m not sure about Clare, to be honest. Sago worms can be a bit of an aquired taste but it’s like that quote: Belum try, belum tahu. Lepas try, hari hari mahu! Hahahaha! 😉
OH god.. that is so gross!!! How come you’re not grossed out pulling the worm’s head off and even eating it? Does it taste bitter or have those.. acidic smell like ants? lolx
this is so original!!
but it’s kind of gross.
yuhhui: Hmm…my nose is permanently blocked for some reason nowadays. I don’t smell anything anymore. I don’t know, I don’t find it gross at all. I’m afraid of spiders. I’m not worried about other insects. 🙂
iono: Cheers buddy! 🙂
i love the ones they fried it, at least its not alive…. clare.. no where to find this in sibu… but my bro come back from mukah every weekend without fail, he might able to help
Clement: COOL!!! Seriously? Jude travels to and fro Mukah every week??? OMG! This is like a dream comes true!
You should be the best candidate for Fear Factor. And you find a great partner too.
Huai Bin, you really update very fast, I am trying to catch up.
I like your hair this way, “innocent” sweet.
I miss sago. I started to eat one at the age of 3. Stayed in Simunjan from baby until around 5, so my mom used to make stir fried or deep fried version for me. Have you tried these two versions? I wonder if raw would taste better, I don’t think I had one before. Come to think about it, it has been more than 10 years I last ate one. Yike!
Love your vlogging. Very natural. Keep them coming. 😉
amazing isn’t it? hehehe I was breeding it for my fishies to cut cost, it can be for profit too but I do not have the sufficient space to do so.
oh i love sago worms.. juicy.. yum yum.. 😀 treat it as er…. french fries when you eat it to ‘hypnotise’ yourself over the yucks factor. haha!
clementwpy: The fried ones doesn’t have the burst of flavor and you don’t get to pull its head off. 😉
Choonie: Yeah, I would be able to do the Fear Factor stunts without problems. But then again I’ll never pass the audition coz I’ll do it without even blinking so there’s no fun in watching a guy who’s not afraid or squirmish to do something. 🙂
fish fish: Yeah, I write a lot at night before I sleep. 🙂
Thanks, this is my unstyled hair. Original hair. 😉
Raw tastes much better, you should try it. I’ve tried the deep fried version but not the stir fried ones.
Thanks fish fish, I do videos when I’m on vacation. 🙂
Darren: …yeah and it’s quite bulky too worms, so it’s hard to make a profit. 🙂
bongkersz: Haha! Yeah, it tastes wonderful, eh? 🙂
ive eaten ants before but grubs? they look rankk woudlnt touch’em at all
Wah you so ganas one!!!! Tabik hormat tuan pemakan ulat. Saya respect. If it were me, you’d be seeing me running towards Mars (if that’s possible. If not, to the moon is good enough)
there are plenty of sago worms in sibu central market. some even bigger than those you photographed there. they sell them by the basketful.
Tom: It’s not that bad actually. Tastes quite good. There’s lots of protein in there, you know. 😉
BaLQiZ: Haha! Well, I’m not scared of any creepy crawlies except spiders (have a phobia about spiders), so it’s not that hard for me. 🙂
ront: Cheers for the info! We’ve been wondering where to get them in Sibu.
is there any way we can buy that back.Or anywhere that sells that
i ate an ant’s queen before and i think it’s tasteless…
This is the first time I’ve ever heard about Sago Worms, not to mention i dare to taste it live!
yierrrrr….I don’t think I dare to try that…