Chewy
and Crunchy, too.
Posted on 06/02/2008 2:00:02 PM PDT by givemELL
Experts believe they could one day be marketed as a healthy alternative to fatty snacks.
In most of Europe, bug-eating is largely restricted to the belated realisation that there has been an unwelcome addition to the salad.
It is common elsewhere, however, with some 1,700 species of bug eaten in 113 countries.
In Taiwan, stir-fried crickets or sauteed caterpillars are delicacies. A plate of maguey worms - larvae of a giant butterfly - sells for £12.50 in smart Mexican restaurants.
Sago grubs wrapped in banana leaves go down well in Papua New Guinea, as does dragonfly in Bali.
In many parts of south-east Asia market stalls sell insects by the pound and deep-fried snacks are served up as street food.
Insects are arthropods, much like crab, shrimps and lobster which are all accepted by the European palate. In North Africa locusts are sometimes called sky prawns.
But Patrick Durst, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, said that if consumers were to be tempted to broaden their culinary horizons the trick might be to make the bugs look more palatable.
'You need to get the food into a form where someone doesn't have to look the bug in the eye when they eat it,' he said.
Earlier this year the Food and Agriculture Organisation held a conference to discuss how entomophagy - eating insects as food - could contribute to sustainable development.
Bug-farming preserves forests - which are needed to attract insects - and is encouraged in some countries.
As for pesticides, some experts have pointed out the irony of using chemicals to get rid of bugs that are more nutritious than the crops they prey on.
In Thailand when pesticides failed to control locusts, the government urged locals to eat them and distributed recipes.
(Excerpt) Read more at thisislondon.co.uk ...
Grasshopper, ants are okay but crickets are just nasty.
I recall reading that pepper content was allowed an 8% “insect parts” allowance by the FDA.
Did you know that the FDA allows up to .002% rodent feces in things like hot dogs? I know this is true because once when I was working at a meat plant while a teenager, I watched an inspectio. The hot dog batch measured only .0015% and a 'mix chef' had to tap in a small amount from a jar to bring the batch up to spec...
Is it April 1 yet...?
Ummmm, ummmm, sky prawns.
I’d go for the bug eating bit if I still had to forage in order to provide for my family. The fact that we don’t have to forage (useful skill-set to have in reserve though) means we can get our protein from much more reliable sources.
Of course if Alton Brown does a show preparing bugs other than those delectable lobster thingys, might have to try it.
They aren't that bad (Yes, I've eaten a number of them having spent 5 1/2 years in SE Asia when younger).
I wasn't aware that we've passed laws dictating what other people can eat.
Eat bugs if you wish, but unless I'm starving I'll keep going with my chips and other crap.
Hmmm, can one scream and vomit at the same time? I'd think not, so I'm betting I wouldn't have screamed either.
Our kitten “Shadow” is ahead of the curve on this. She is the urban equivalent of a “mouser.”
Yes, there ARE laws.
I wouldn't mind some chocolate covered grasshoppers from time to time.
I have eaten some strange things in my time. Some of them were good, some were awful, and some were like, "What's the big deal?".
My mother told us when we were young that if we didn't try things, we wouldn't know whether we liked them or not.
Hopefully, others take that advice also.
Chips are all right. Now chocolate, THERE'S the perfect food!
Democrats better hope that this meat eater is never required to choose between a bug or a democrat. I recognize that both are similar, disgusting and revolting, but the former is too much work to collect and prepare.
Besides, bugs do serve a important purposes and have a value, unlike the useless pieces of wasted flesh, called democrats.
In a couple more years we will probably be burning democrats for fuel anyway, so I may be forced to try bugs. ;>)
No doubt. If others want to eat bugs, they can knock themselves out. I’ll stick to the good ol’ slab of beef, fowl, and fish.
I’ll just stick to the bug parts that are in my processed foods.
Because we have a ready supply of hamburgers available?
In these same cultures, what do they do on special occasions? Cook themselves up some meat. If they could replace their animals easily, they'd consume them over bugs, bet on it.
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