Best season to travel to Colombia

Fat-Butted Ants or Hormigas Culonas

This famous Colombian delicacy roughly translates into English as "big-butt ants"

Best time: May–November

Fat-Butted Ants or Hormigas Culonas
Fat-Butted Ants or Hormigas Culonas

These huge ants are a traditional snack in Colombia and are definitely worth a try. In fact, they're not bad at all. They taste a bit like popcorn and roasted chicken. Or bacon, in some cases.

Usually, you have to cook the ants in order to eat them. First, the ants have to be collected, then the heads, legs and wings have to be plucked off the ants. After that, the ants are salted and fried. Sometimes you'll even find the big-ass ants in other dishes or sauces.

The ants are collected during nine weeks of the rainy season. Only the females are considered edible.

The big-ass ants are considered to be an aphrodisiac and are a traditional wedding present. Although there is one small warning: you shouldn't drink water within two hours after eating them otherwise you'll have a stomachache.

Last updated: by Eleonora Provozin