Eating Native

I went to the village market to buy some vegetables today. One of the things I bought was a bag of, I was told, mushrooms. In the dim light of the market, I thought what was in the bag looked too small and not at all like mushrooms, but I bought it anyway. They must have played a joke on me, because later I found out it was actually a bag of caterpillars, which is a common source of protein for the locals. So for tonight’s dinner, I am eating caterpillars as the “meat” dish. They are kind of crunchy, and not at all squishy as I expected. And they actually don’t taste half bad, although I am constantly reminded that I am eating caterpillars as the little spikes on them keep tickling my mouth as I chew.

What's the vegetable doing next to my caterpillars?