I was preparing some stuffed courgette(zucchini) flowers the other day(I’ll provide a recipe if anyone is interested); one of the first things to do is to remove any little insects that may be crawling around inside the flowers; it’s quite difficult to be certain that you have got them all out and after perhaps ten minutes of this, I decided to consciously disconnect from the idea that there were any insects left in there, but this got me thinking…
Why is it that in ‘the civilised western world’ we have (with notable exceptions) such disdain for land-based invertebrates as a source of food?
On the face of it, the ‘ick’ factor would seem to be responsible and yet there is nothing objectively more ‘icky’ about locusts than there is about prawns and yet, I’d gladly tuck into a heap of prawns whereas I’d have to steel myself to try a locust (even though I hear that they are quite good).
Then maybe there’s the ‘eating the whole organism’ factor; prawns are usually peeled, but locusts are eaten whole, but this idea falls over when we encounter whitebait, whelks and whole baby cuttlefish (which I have no problem eating as an ingredient of Paella).
So is it that we mentally associate invertebrates (and particularly insects) with spoiled food?
I experience the ‘ick’ factor with any food which still looks like the original animal it came from. (Except fish, conversely)
Whole King Prawns are similar in guise to insects, with their feelers and legs still intact.
I have eaten prawns, locusts, even worms (in Botswana), but could never pretend to have enjoyed them. I would guess (my WAG) that this ‘block’ is more cultural than biological - our parents never ate them, so why should we? The taste is secondary to the texture, or even the mental image of what the texture may be.
Maybe it is due to having such a wealth of choice we have no necessity to eat insects. Maybe the culture of eating insects had originally grown out of desperate need rather than wish.
As I have on many occasions on this Board, I’ll recommend Marvin Harris’ excellent book Good to Eat, also known as The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig. It’s the work of a Cultural Anthropologist explaining why we eat what we do, and why we avoid what we avoid. I’m not going to attempt an explanation here, because the question youi ask in the OP requires a good chunk of his book for a reply. Harris devotes an entire chapter to why Westerners generally avoid bugs, but other cultures don’t. (Not that it has always been so – despite attempts by some folks to explain “locusts and honey” in other ways, NT people clearly did eat bugs. So did the ancient Greeks – Harris cites Aristotle calling grasshoppers “four-winged fowl”). Another chapter explains western reluctance to eat horses.
Harris’ explanations rely upon his backing a research philosophy he calls “cultural materialism”, that I find very convincing. It differs from the Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss, or the theories of Mary O. Douglas. Worth reading, even if you do disagree.
I agree, our food preferences are silly in this respect, especially since most people who would never think of eating arthopods, will gleefully eat their vomit.
Actualyy, it’s so simple that it’s hardly a recipe at all (and so I’ll post it here rather than starting another thread in a more appropriate forum)
To start with, you(obviously) need some courgette flowers; pumpkin flowers will do just as well; male flowers are preferrable because you can pick them without risking damage to the immature fruit. You need to pick them at the stage where they have just closed up, but haven’t shrivelled. Cut them with about half an inch of stalk left on.
Carefully(to avoid tearing them) check the inside of the flowers and remove any insects, if such is your preference.
The filling is made from a slice of white bread, a few mushrooms, a couple of ounces of cheese, about a quarter of a red bell pepper and a squirt of tomato paste, plus some herbs (I used fresh rosemary and sage, but you can use whatever suits you) whizzed around in a food processor until finely chopped (it should end up as a sort of soft dough), carefully press about a teaspoonful of the mixture down into the inside of each flower (more than a teaspoonful if they are big flowers), then gently close them up again.
Make a batter out of self-raising flour (or plain flour and a little baking powder) and water aiming for a thick just-liquid consistency; stir in a pinch of salt and (optional) a crushed garlic clove (you could really go to town with the batter; my neighbour, who is Asian, makes a sort of spicy batter, but she doesn’t put any stuffing into the flowers).
Holding a stuffed flower by the stalk, dip it into the batter and coat it thoroughly (you’ll probably have trouble doing this properly without getting your hands messy), then lay it down gently into a quarter inch of hot oil in a frying pan; it will wilt and flatten as it cooks - turn occasionally and cook until the batter is crisp and golden brown all over.
That’s it; be careful, because the filling stays dangerously hot for quite a while.
I know you specified invertebrates, but let me just say that whenever somebody offers me jellyfish, squid or octopus, all I can think of is “Yahhhhhhhhhhhikes, sea monsters!” I grew up during a time when B movies attempted to creep us out by irradiating & gigantifying anything slimy or insect-like. Maybe you can blame “Attack of the 50-foot woman” for turning me off in that department as well.
Maybe this explains the bugs, too. I watched “Them!” once too many times as a young’un.
In the Baltimore area we savor soft-shelled crabs. For those not familiar, these are crabs that are harvested the moment they shed their shell when molting. They have their new shell, and they look pretty much like a regular crab, but it’s so thin you can eat it. You eat the entire crab. I believe this is a local cultural custom, as I think that anyone outside the area would have a hard time eating the thing whole.
Mangetout asks, “So is it that we mentally associate invertebrates (and particularly insects) with spoiled food?” Having read and participated in a couple threads here recently on spiders (ha, ha!), I’d say it’s also that familiarity breeds contempt. Shrimp, squid and other sea creatures are at least as repulsive-looking as bugs, but they aren’t in our faces like insects are. We don’t see them daily. I’ll even venture to say I’m not sure I could identify a fresh-from-the-sea prawn (I mean, I think I know what they look like, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure.) Whereas we all are repulsed by, and unfortunately familiar with, the evil scuttling cockroach, the slithering centipede, the scurrying spider. Don’t get me started on Palmetto bugs. Silverfish. Ewww …stop me, please.
I’m not sure how this stacks up with Marvin Harris’ research in the book Cal mentioned, which sounds indeed quite interesting. (You mentioned it another thread recently; what was it?) But I’d eat an octupus more readily than a centipede, just because I’m not as likely to have been grossed out by one every day of my life.
A Sushi California style roll with soft shelled crab in it is usually called a “spider roll”. I had several in Florida a few weeks ago. Very good eating.
Also used to have soft shelled crabs back when I lived on Long Island.
To fly off at a complete tangent; aren’t there bits of a crab that you aren’t meant to eat? - are these removed in the case of soft-shelled crabs or are they simply not present in whatever species it is that is harvested this way?
My feeling is that we tend to associate terrestrial invertebrates with garbage, dirt and filth and that immediately turns us off them. Maybe I’m not representative- I’ve eaten green ants, witchety grubs, fried grasshoppers and probably a few other invertebrates in my time.
BTW, I’m surprised by the aversion many are expressing to crustaceans in their answers. We eat a lot of seafood in Australia and prawns, oysters etc are at a premium.
Upon further reflection, I see that it is necessary to amend my “four legs or more” rule of non-vegetarianism to disinclude invertebrates. Thanks for the heads-up.
Nope Motog I don’t like oysters!! They feel like a big glob of snot sliding down your throat and they taste much like a teaspoon of seawater. That’s natural (uncooked), I can imagine eating them cooked but have never had them like that.
On the other hand, I could eat mussles/prawns/crayfish (especially crayfish) till the fat cows sing their way home!
