In the city of Buraydah in Saudi Arabia, a merchant recently held a public auction to peddle what outsiders might think a peculiar, if not disgusting, commodity: locusts. According to a newspaper report from the nearby United Arab Emirates, the insect-wrangling entrepreneur actually attracted plenty of customers, who enthusiastically shouted out bids of up to $113 for 11-pound plastic sacks of the crop-eating pests. As it turns out, many Saudis like to dry locusts out in the sun and then eat them as a snack food, despite government warnings that they may be laced with pesticides [source: Emirates247.com].