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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That's nothing. Where do you think casings used for large diameter sausages and cured meats, like summer sausage, come from? Hint: it ain't part of the UPPER intestines of cattle or pigs...
Is this a bad time to bring up cheese?
But it's yummy bee puke. Irrational? Yes. Do I care? No. That's the beauty of civilized judgementalism. I can have it both ways and to hell with those who disagree.
LOL! Exactly!
"It's still bee puke..."
And not just regurgitated by one bee either.
Each single drop of nectar is passed from bee to bee to bee to bee (etc.) until it finally is loaded into cells, ripened and capped.
OMG!!! Those crazy Europeans will do anything for attention, won't they?
Why, no. I love a tasty crusted mass of spoiled ruminant lactation.
I remember a collage roommate from India seeing Pizza for the first time. He was repelled that we would eat something that looked like something the dog gaged up. Not to worry, we had him eating Pizza, KFC, and the Tequila worm by end of first semester.
I honestly don't think I will ever be hungry again. :(
.... and that's why Americans are so superior to those barbaric Europeans. We, intrinsically, know where the line is drawn. ;)
This is hard to understand. German food has always been fairly straight forward and, in my opinion, delicious.
That I'll pass up...
What is in the hot dogs?
The FR diet plan...
IF I ever eat again, it won't be anyone's food but my own.
The legal definition is: Lips, tongue, esophagus, and the attached fat not to exceed 20% by weight...
lol...yep
Who was the first person to see this rotted cheese & think, "hmmm.....I hate to waste a good chunk of cheese, I wonder what that tastes like?"
That's because you are thinking of real German food, like Brats and Kraut, Weiss and Strudel. Anything new that comes out of Europe now (especially France or Germany) has been tainted by the insane new European craze of relatavistic normalism, where there is nohing that is wrong or weird, only misunderstood.
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