Posted on 05/21/2005 7:44:57 PM PDT by aculeus
Sarah Azubi, 17, had hers deep fried. "They were crunchy like chips and tasted a bit like nuts," she said approvingly of the new delicacy on the menu at a Dresden restaurant. "There was a soft juicy bit in the middle around the crunchy shell."
Another diner, Nancy Weinhold, 25, was less convinced by the plump maggots, imported to Germany from Mexico, which the Espitas restaurant began serving last month. "I will try most things once but was really tempted to give this a miss," she said. "They looked disgusting - two-inch long, fat, squishy grubs that looked as if they should have been eating the lettuce, not lying on it waiting to be eaten. I closed my eyes for the first bite, but they were really not that bad."
Few diners seem to share her reservations. Since the head chef, Uwe Engert, started dishing up yellow kingworms (Zophobas morio) in everything from salads to cocktails as a "nutritious and extremely tasty" alternative, the Espitas has been full every night.
Mr Engert himself is a convert, describing the beetle larvae as a "protein bomb for those who are not too squeamish", ideal for human consumption because the exoskeleton is easily digestible.
The restaurant owner, Alexander Wolf, stumbled across the delicacy during a trip to Mexico. Given the popularity of Mr Engert's larvae salads at €13 (£8.90), fried larvae with cactus and corn (€19), and larvae in ice cream or chocolate sauce (€7), he now intends to branch out into grasshopper and ant dishes.
"I was visiting an area close to Mexico City where these larvae seem to be the staple diet," said Mr Wolf, 27, who prides himself on the authentic Latin American ambience in his three restaurants. "The locals cook them in everything from soups to burritos. The larvae used to be a pest as they hatched into a beetle which can destroy crops. People started eating them simply to get rid of them."
He is now considering starting his own maggot farm in Europe. "We have them deep-frozen on the ground to stop them hatching and then ship them over," he said. "We are now planning our own colony here so we can sell them elsewhere in Europe. I reckon they will go down well in the UK. London, especially, has a tradition of variety in its cuisine."
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The U.S. must close its maggot gap with Mexico...
Does this mean that Garcia's is aboutto introduce a Chimi con Gusano?
Even I draw the line at cockroaches.
You could fry sh*t and it would taste good. That doesn't mean I'd eat it!
I would rather starve to death than eat maggots or any other insect life.
In fact, I would joyously look forward to starving to death if the alternative was eating maggots, worms, or grubs.
If you eat non pre-prepared food, there's a lot less insect parts.
I think that anyone who would eat maggots would eat s_ _ _.
Oh, my. The thought. :^O
"I got news for you, folks. You're already eating them - and worse - every day of your life. Now, I'm not saying that a handful of crunchy maggots washed down with your beer is something to cap off a day with, but most people don't have a clue about what is in their food. Better to not know. Move along. Nothing to see."
Not that I want to visit a sausage factory or DC anytime soon, mind you, but c'mon, one part per 10000 isn't the same as one part per one part.
I had the same reaction to silk worms. That they smell like the dead doesn't help. I think Koreans have truly odd taste in food, with their national rotten-food fetish (kimchee-like rotten meat was too much to even consider trying--and it is a delicacy in some parts of southern ROK in the way that beef jerky is a delicacy in the U.S.)
Eels, and squid in ink, on the other hand, those were awesome. Dog, well, never could find a restaurant in the ROK that would serve it to whitey. But the Filipinos don't seem to mind serving anyone who wants it. Tain't bad.
However, I do NOT recommend the Guam natives' fruit bat stew.
Article says they're imported form Mexico. My question is, what possessed someone to suggest this would be a good idea?
Maggot lobbyists or salesmen.
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