Posted on 04/13/2014 7:03:09 PM PDT by PaulCruz2016
There are many environmental reasons to eat insects. But first you have to get past the ick factor.
You have to be careful not to overcook scorpions. The exoskeleton traps steam, and they're messy when they pop.
"But get it right," said "Bug Chef" David George Gordon to the swarm of curious faces gathered to watch him work, "and they taste like soft-shell crab."
It was Halloween night. I'd trekked across Portland, Oregon, for a bug-cooking demonstration at Paxton Gate, a store that owner Andy Brown describes as "a natural history museum where everything is for sale." Feats of unusual taxidermy covered the walls. There were piranhas, peacocks, and baby lambs mid-frolic. Owl pellets filled a glass jar in one display; another held mouse skeletons sitting upright in tiny royal costumes. It was nightmarish and wonderful, rewarding for the curious but troublesome for the squeamish. Much like what we were about to do.
Bearded and jovial, Gordon calls himself a chef even though he's not associated with any restaurant. He began collecting insect-based recipes in 1996 and two years later published The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, which includes tonight's two demonstration recipes: tempura-battered mealworms and scorpion scaloppine. Both were made with limited seasoning, Gordon said, because he didn't want to overpower the taste of the insects. Dessert, however, was chapulines (fried grasshoppers) dipped in chocolate. They tasted like chocolate.
(Excerpt) Read more at sierraclub.org ...
I suspect that that author’s a bit more than a ilttle BUGGY!
While our elites eat Wagyu beef, lobster, Chilean Sea Bass, heritage pork, scallops and a thousand other delicacies forbidden to us peons.
I wonder: are vegetarians and vegans okay with people eating insects? Does that count as killing animals for food?
Some of us--in fact, I suspect, most of us--would much prefer a steak. Or even a hamburger.
I have a whole lot of animals and vegetables and grains that I have to run out of before bugs are on my plate.
But first they can kiss my @ss!
I suspect that could change when we are sent to the re-indoctrination camp and placed on a starvation diet. IMHO that would not be a gourmet opportunity.
When I was in Thailand we often worked at night. The artificial lights would bring in the RICE BUGS, or as we called them the Baht bug, as we sold them to the locals for 5 cents, or a baht.
http://importfood.com/thai_insect_maengda.html
As a teen-ager I worked at an upscale department store at the candy counter. We had a whole shelf filled with chocolate-covered bugs. The entire time I worked there no one bought any.
Could there be a more unfortunate name? Seriously.
But, I'm with the steak-eaters. :)
I think you mentioned this was at Hudsons Dept. store in Detroit, Mi. I never knew this product was sold there, and I grew up in Detroit. Cass Tech was my high school.
It was Hudson’s in Flint. No one even asked for a sample.
If scorpion tastes like crab... what does that tell you about crab?
Someone gave me a lollipop with a scorpion in it. I discovered that the lollipop is actually a very viscous liquid. The scorpion would gradually sink to the down side of the lollipop, which I would turn over every few months.
I wonder if I still have that lollipop...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.