I was thinking of how crickets rub their [del]appendages[/del] legs together.
I have eaten so many bugs in my life. They had a store that sold them in this small town right near my town. Chocolate covered crickets are tasty. Same with nacho cheese meel worms. Also Dad’s best friend was from some small country where it was normal to consume bugs.
I’ve eaten the occasional inadvertent insect while bicycling – does that count? As I recall, they mostly taste like coughing and horror.
I tried crickets at a farmer’s market style venue once. The vendor had samples of many different flavors. Some of them totally masked the cricket, like a garlic and onion flavored one. I think the best he had was a light coating of sugar (like peanut brittle). You still got the nutty flavor of the cricket, but the sugar was already crunchy so you were less aware of eating this weird spiky little insect thing.
The texture is really the biggest issue for me in eating insects. It bugs me (hah!) just as much when people fry shrimp with the shells still on. Yeah, they’re small shrimp and the shells are edible at that size, but let’s not do that, thanks.
Huh. I can never understand why people don’t eat the tasty tails and heads when they have fried or skewered shrimps. (OK, the antennae are a little weird on occasion. Nevertheless.)
And now I’m picturing getting shrimp antennae stuck between your teeth. 
Better late than never (found this thread on a vanity search looking for something else).
I caught, cooked and ate grasshoppers a couple of years back. I enjoyed them - sort of somewhere between the flavour of crispy chicken skin and some sort of general nutty-grainy flavour.
I wouldn’t hesitate to eat them again. I’ve also eaten crispy mealworms and crickets that someone bought for me (ready to eat) - they were surprisingly nice, but IMO, the fresh-fried grasshoppers were nicer.
Baby bees are my favorite! It’s the only bug I’ll actively seek out.
I tried crickets at a bar (well, a couple plastic chairs under a grass shelter and a guy selling beer) at a Chad-Cameroon river crossing. They were served with hot pepper powder and lime, and tasted like hot peppers and lime. I recall them being unpleasantly fleshy compared to, say, deliciously crispy flying termites.
That night, everyone who tried the crickets got sick. There is probably a good lesson in there.
the most interesting way I’ve had shrimp was at a Japanese restaurant (in the Detroit area.) Basically whole shrimp, lightly breaded and fried. Liked them, but the damned legs kept getting stuck in my teeth. As I’ve said before, I will try anything at least once, unless the smell is too off-putting.
people think bugs are “icky,” but I wonder if they’d still eat chicken if they saw a live, featherless one. Birds w/o their feathers are feckin’ ugly.
I missed this the last time around. This is my favorite part of the link:
Jiminy!
The baby bees I had were canned . . . in honey, of course.
Does anyone eat praying mantis (other than its mate)?
Ok. Bee larvae is a common dish in parts of China. They are served deep fried and with hot peppers. Delicious.
Bumped.
Now available, covered in dark chocolate: Chocolate Covered Crickets By 3 Cricketeers | Boundary Waters Catalog
I’ve had a fried tarantula, but that gets us into arachnids.
Around here (Chicago) you can find dried and seasoned chapulines (a type of grasshopper) at several Mexican groceries. I’ve bought them before to gross out the kids, and they’re not half bad. Look pretty gross, but tasty enough as a bar snack. I’ve also seen chapulines tacos around here, but that’s a bit more difficult to find. I haven’t tried those yet.
What is the connection between crickets and shellfish?
If we took the exoskeleton off, it wouldn’t be crunchy!
Can I interest you in some Anthrax Ripple…?
During distance learning I showed my kids a bag of crickets and proceeded to eat a handful.