Insects as a viable food option?

[bluevoter4life]

We have all heard of the nutritional benefits of insects and also know of the many cultures worldwide that consume insects the way we consume popcorn. I found this very intriguing presentation highlighting the possibility of considering insects as a food source here in the states, and also expanding it to become more commonplace worldwide.


http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/09/#4/1

[bowens43]

1. Every year

our local Natural History Museum sponsors a 'bugfest'. This includes a cafe that give out free meals. These meals of course feature insects. They serve up grasshoppers, meal worms, crickets and other creatures that we Americans do not usually eat purposely . They were served up in stir fry and in baked goods. After getting past the initial cultural revulsion, they're really not that bad.

[kestrel91316]

6. I'll eat almost anything, including raw oysters and Rocky Mountain

"oysters" and sweetbreads and mud bugs (crawfish) and liver and heart. But you aren't coming NEAR me with any insects.

[depakid]

11. Oh, come on now, Kestrel

These look good:

:9


Crisp and nutty oven baked crickets covered in chocolate.

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Chocolate covered scorpions taste similar to a walnut covered in chocolate

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For a healthier snack, these worm crisps are oven baked not fried

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/pictures/galleries/newsid_3191000/3191838.stm

[Cleita]

2. I guess it worked for John the Baptist and many an explorer

back when who survived eating bugs when lost, but I wouldn't want them in my diet unless I was starving. On the other hand, exactly what are lobster, crabs and shrimp? They look a lot like their distant insect cousins on land.

[sam sarrha]

4. crickets are really easy to grow on scraps.. just vacuum up enough for a meal.. worms grow on table

scraps, leaves-etc and paper.. grind up a worm burger. as a biologist i have cultured about everything

[grantcart]

3. Thais, especially in the North East deep fry grasshopper and eat them like popcorn

[Cobalt-60]

13. That's good stuff.

Of course the oil and seasonings provide most of the flavor.
I'd put it in the same class as "spicy chicken bites".
I've also enjoyed chocolate covered ants.
They were like a Krackel bar.

[Fovea]

5. poultry

is a better use of bugs. Eggs are rich in protein and albumin
and the droppings are a good source for phosphates and nitrates, IIRC.

[kestrel91316]

7. There ya go. Somebody with some sense in their head.

[soothsayer]

8. I'm pretty sure that if lobsters and shrimp lived on land, we'd consider them bugs.

[depakid]

12. Like these

Balmain bugs

[kristopher]

9. Recipe for grasshoppers

Select about 1 pint of your favorite variety of grasshopper

Prepare mixture of equal parts water, soy sauce, mirin (type of sweet sake) and a little sugar. Bring to boil.

Add grasshoppers and cover quickly.

Allow to simmer until tender.


They aren't that bad, but the bottom part of the legs get caught between your teeth in an annoyingly regular fashion.

Best served when smashed (the person eating, that is).

[Dover]

10. How to attract grasshoppers

Plant a garden.


Now that the grasshoppers have eaten everything I've planted this spring (only stubs left), I guess it's only fitting that I eat them. Ah...the circle of life. Thanks for the recipe!

[DCKit]

14. Given the extreme vigilance of the FDA and the preponderance of prepared foods...

many Americans are probably getting half their protein from insects. And *other* sources.

[NickB79]

15. A vegan friend of mine was truly disturbed by my stories of harvesting grain on the farm as a kid

When you pulled the gravity boxes full of corn and oats into the yard to unload into the grain bins, the top inch or so of the harvest would be a wriggling layer of insects on top of the grain. Mainly it was composed of grasshoppers and crickets, with a few spiders and beetles mixed in. No one ever wastes time trying to remove the bugs. You just open the side-door and dump it all into the auger to transfer it to the grain bins, bugs and all. It gets dried, ground and processed to food.

Mmmmm, protein :9