# No pork, but locusts are Ok? Hey! Save some for me! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991 "2004-11-21T22:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/1 "2004-11-21T22:24:58Z")
[Israel Hit by Worst Locust Plague Since 1950s](http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2004112112460002352783&dt=20041121124600&w=RTR&coview=) > [@](#): > > The locusts were heading east toward Jordan and Saudi Arabia and were not expected to move to Israel’s more fertile north as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Palestinian farmers are less equipped to deal with the scourge. > > The last major invasion of African locusts 45 years ago ravaged crops in the Jewish state. But some Israelis as well as labourers from Thailand, where locusts are a delicacy, made the best of the current outbreak by collecting the insects and taking them home for dinner. > > A Web Site in Eilat listed recipes for locusts including locust shish-kebab, locust chips (French fries) and stir-fried locusts. The recipes said it was essential to cook the insects while alive “as otherwise they become bitter.” > The locust is the only type of insect that is kosher and permissible for religious Jews to eat under Jewish law. > > “Delicious,” said one Israeli man in Eilat, licking his lips after picking a locust off the ground and eating it raw. “They’re a delicacy fit for a king.” ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/2 "2004-11-21T22:36:54Z")
So…what do they taste like? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/3 "2004-11-21T22:49:19Z")
I wish the people of Israel well. Thankfully they’re not a totally agrarian culture. However, in case you hadn’t heard, the whole of sahelian Africa (as well as north Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean) is suffering from severe plagues of locusts, that is devastating entire crops, and could lead to widespread famine. I heard on the radio the other day that a typical swarm in Mauritania is 1 kilometre wide, and ten kilometres long. It contains _100 billion_ locusts. And there are thousands of swarms. Each locust consumes its own weight every day, and they can strip a field in ten minutes, that would take humans three months to consume. It’s a very very serious problem. [UN planes fly in to help destroy locusts](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3742102.stm). ---
**Author:** ![sliPshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@sliPshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sliPshod)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/4 "2004-11-21T23:01:41Z")
Technically, Locusts are kosher, but Cecil claims that the specie of locust cannot be identified with certainty. Therefore, I can’t see any Orthodox Jews risking breaking kashrut just to try a locust chip. > [@](#): > > A few species of locusts are permitted, but we can no longer identify them with certainty (the ancient Hebrew terms are no longer clear). [Kosher Locusts](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mjewishislamdiet.html) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/5 "2004-11-22T00:25:07Z")
Well, come on. Food supplies were less certain in ancient times. I mean, you just KNOW that if there were seasonal swarms of 100 billion pigs, they’d be kosher, too. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/6 "2004-11-22T03:25:05Z")
Didn’t John the Baptist surrive in the desert on locust and honey for a time. I assume that he was Jewish before Christ came along wasn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/7 "2004-11-22T04:21:55Z")
If a swarm of big bugs eats all your crops, the logical thing to do is to eat the eaters. I’m not surprised that locusts are kosher. Lots of folks ate them, including the ancient Greeks. (In the recent movie **Hidalgo** , Viggo Mortenson’s character eats locusts, too, using the same logic.) As for pig, well, I’ve suggested the writings of cultural anthropologist Martin Harris before. Check them out – his Cultural Materialism theory offers an explanation for just why locusts are OK and pigs (throughout the Middle East) aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/8 "2004-11-22T04:43:57Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > So…what do they taste like? I can just about be 99.9% sure that they don’t taste like chicken. Sorry, just had to say it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/9 "2004-11-22T10:13:16Z")
They were described on the documentary as being like shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/10 "2004-11-22T10:15:04Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > So…what do they taste like? A lot like shrimp, although without the salty “seafood” taste: they fry up good and crispy, and make excellent beer snacks. Hell, they’re just shrimps with wings. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/11 "2004-11-22T16:02:59Z")
Well, gimme some locusts and coctail sauce, then! Y’know, lets make some lemonade out of these lemons. Sure, it sucks that your crops just got eaten, but if you can net a ton of locusts, you’ve got a feast. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/12 "2004-11-22T16:21:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > If a swarm of big bugs eats all your crops, the logical thing to do is to eat the eaters. I’m not surprised that locusts are kosher. Lots of folks ate them, including the ancient Greeks. (In the recent movie **Hidalgo** , Viggo Mortenson’s character eats locusts, too, using the same logic.) > … Yeah, but what Viggo actually ate was marzipan shaped like a locust which I’m sure was much tastier. I’m sorry but I can believe that they taste like shrimp. Shrimp seem to be mostly flesh with a tiny brain and nerve and not much in the way of gooshey insides. Stepping on and squishing a shrimp is nothing like stepping on a bug and having it go splat. So it seems to me that eating a locust raw would cause all sorts of noxious fluids to squirt. ::puking smiley:: So, a plague of locusts, huh? Do you think someone is trying to tell them something? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/13 "2004-11-22T17:28:15Z")
slipShod: > [@](#): > > Technically, Locusts are kosher, but Cecil claims that the specie of locust cannot be identified with certainty. Therefore, I can’t see any Orthodox Jews risking breaking kashrut just to try a locust chip. Ashkenazic (European-descnded) Jews have long since forgotten the tradition which identifies the specific species of locust which are Kosher, but a number of Sephardic (Middle-Eastern descended) Jews maintain that they still have that traditional knowledge, so they’re probably the ones who feel confident about eating the locust-kebabs. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pork-but-locusts-are-ok-hey-save-some-for-me/275991/14 "2004-11-22T17:52:13Z")
Atkins, baby! > [@](#): > > According to the book Creepy Crawly Cuisine, by Julieta Ramos-Elorduy (Park > Street Press, Rochester, VT, 1998), a pound of locusts (grasshoppers) > contains more than adequate amounts of all amino acids for adults’ > nutritional needs. This amount of locusts also meet an adult’s daily needs > for phosphorus, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and essential fatty > acids. Calcium levels, although insufficient to meet dietary standards, > exceed those of meats commonly consumed in the United States, such as beef > and chicken. The carbohydrate content is very low, making locusts _a > suitable food for the Atkins Diet_. > > Not surprisingly, I was not able to find nutritional information for insects > from the USDA’s nutritional database. > > Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D. > Director of Academic Programs > PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois from [http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01234.htm](http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01234.htm) Italics mine.