When I was a kid, I was given a packet of flavored worms. They were dead mealworms dusted with a coating of mesquite powder. I ate them all and thought that they were OK, although I was eating them more because it was krazy and weird than because I actually enjoyed them.
Hours later, I was digsusted. I regretted what I had eaten, and thought, “that was just not a natural thing to do at all.” I have never eaten any insects since.
However, I realize that many people do in fact enjoy eating bugs. I understand that some other cultures don’t have the same hang ups about it that we do in the West, so I’d say it’s simply cultural conditioning that makes bug-eating seem gross to me, and not that it’s inherently unnatural or wrong.
Case in point: I don’t have any problem with eating a lobster, shrimp or crab. And what are those creatures, really, but giant bugs? Yeah, yeah, they’re crustaceans, but as Dave Barry said (about lobsters,) “why would I want to eat a giant cockroach?” Lobsters are just as weird-looking and covered in scary spines and carapaces as any insect, but since I’m culturally conditioned to enjoy them, I find them to be delicious instead of disgusting.
So my questions are as follows: are there any people here who enjoy eating insects? If so, what are your favorite kinds, and how do you like to prepare them? And, more generally, why hasn’t insect-eating caught on among people in Europe and America?
I don’t eat bugs myself, but I would if I were hungry enough. However, I want to recommend the book *Man Eating Bugs * to help satisfy your curiosity. Note there is no hypen in the title.
I`ve eaten insects and spiders on survival training which were at best tasteless at the worst quite unpleasant,digressing a little ,dog is pretty digusting but roast snake is rather enjoyable (though you tend to get lots of little "fish bones "stuck in your teeth )boiled snake not so good .
I’ve eaten insects from a street vendor in Bangkok. They were okay, and really not bad with the spices added in. Tip to the wise: pull the thin stick like parts of the leg s off of grasshoppers, but leave on the “drumsticks”.
I ate mealworms and crickets from a street vendor in Thailand as well. They were very tasty, actually (deep-fried and covered in soy sauce, IIRC). Boy, it took a real effort to get that first one into my mouth, but after that I realized there was really nothing bad or gross about them, at least in that form. They were just crunchy and salty. The crickets were crispy, like potato chips, and the mealworms had a little bit of a softer crunch, like rice crackers.
Almost everything is good when it’s deep-fried.
I couldn’t bring myself to eat the scorpions or hand-sized water beetles, and I really think I’d have trouble with any squishy or raw bugs.
I’ve also eaten ants (they’re spicy from the formic acid) but that hardly counts.
Last time I remember eating some ants was about a year ago. Seems my comuter desk was a stagging point for a bunch of ants, and they jumped on my Golden Orero’s. As a lesson to ants everywhere I ate the cookie, and about a dozen or so ants.
I did it to teach them all a lesson. However, upon reflection I realized two things. One ants are pretty stupid and would learn nothing from the experience. Second, even if they did the half a can of raid I sprayed their asses with would have taken out any who would have spread the word.
I’ll eat mopane worms every couple years or so. Usually as a salty dry snack, kind of like salty chips or something, very herby. I’ve also had them in stews, rather good.
One of my alltime favorite book purchases was The Eat a Bug Cookbook by David G. Gordon.
Gordon really does give gourmet recipes for various insects and other creepy things (centipedes, spiders), and goes around giving talks and demonstrations (!)
www.davidgeorgegordon.com
So evidently some people like eating bugs.
I also recommend the capter “Small Things” in anthropologist Marvin Harris’ book The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig , AKA Good to Eat. Insect eating has a long history, even in the classical world (Aristotle ate locusts and liked 'em, as did John the Baptist).
One of my alltime favorite book purchases was The Eat a Bug Cookbook by David G. Gordon.
Gordon really does give gourmet recipes for various insects and other creepy things (centipedes, spiders), and goes around giving talks and demonstrations (!)
www.davidgeorgegordon.com
So evidently some people like eating bugs.
I also recommend the capter “Small Things” in anthropologist Marvin Harris’ book The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig , AKA Good to Eat. Insect eating has a long history, even in the classical world (Aristotle ate locusts and liked 'em, as did John the Baptist).