# Would you eat live maggots? What if I offered you $1,000? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195 "2008-05-22T02:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/1 "2008-05-22T02:26:45Z")
A friend of mine asked me this, and I said, “yes.” As long as the maggots were fresh. I think quite a few animals eat them, so what not myself? And a $1,000 is a $1,000. What about you? He tried to lower the offer, but since I knew he’d never come through, I insisted on the grand. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/2 "2008-05-22T02:32:02Z")
Can I cook 'em, first? ETA: Oh, live. Eh. I’d still do it for a grand. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/3 "2008-05-22T02:32:55Z")
How many? I could probably do it for 1K per maggot. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/4 "2008-05-22T02:36:06Z")
[Maggot cheese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu), anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/5 "2008-05-22T02:40:20Z")
Probably not. I think the wriggling would freak me out. And then every time I came down with something or didn’t feel 100% I’d worry that it was maggot-related. I watch too much House. ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/6 "2008-05-22T02:41:13Z")
I ate a live termite once. They were hatching and we were told they were a delicacy. My friend tried to get me to eat them with him and I said only if he caught one for me. He did, so I did. It really wasn’t bad - it didn’t taste like anything and it kind of crunched like popcorn. So, I think I probably would, if you provided the maggots for me and they were fairly fresh. It would also depend on how many and how large they were, I think. (This is, of course, in addition to you supplying the money.) ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/7 "2008-05-22T02:43:42Z")
Oh you betcha, for $1000. Bring them on. One question: How can a LIVE maggot, NOT be “fresh”? ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/8 "2008-05-22T02:43:52Z")
Sure, I’d eat a few live maggots. I bet they’d go nice in some fried rice. We are talking a few, right? Not something like 2 gallons in 30 minutes, and no vomiting for 3 hours? ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/9 "2008-05-22T02:50:59Z")
A mere thousand bucks? Not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/10 "2008-05-22T02:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Bus Guy] Oh you betcha, for $1000. Bring them on. One question: How can a LIVE maggot, NOT be “fresh”? [/QUOTE] As one of the people who mentioned “fresh” as a prerequisite for consuming maggots, I think I was pretty much just envisioning maggots that didn’t have rotting meat or fermenting fruit bits or so on “attached” to them. Perhaps it’d be more accurate to have said, “Clean”. The point is that I could eat a couple of maggots for $1000 if it really was just the maggots I was eating (I think). A bowlful? Probably not. Covered in slimy, formerly-meat? Definitely not. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/11 "2008-05-22T03:01:24Z")
Yeah, I’d eat 'em for the $1000. But ditto to the “clean” comment. I’d like them to be washed off first. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/12 "2008-05-22T03:46:05Z")
Yeah, fine. Money up front. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/13 "2008-05-22T03:49:39Z")
Not a chance. No way. Never. However, for a million dollars I’d consider it. (actually, $100,000 is probably where I’d be tempted.) ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/14 "2008-05-22T03:52:21Z")
Don’t forget cleaning out their guts. Just dunking them in water won’t do the trick – their guts are also going to be icky. ISTR some species of bug gets fed up on better quality food so that their guts are full of better food than what they would ordinarily be scarfing – all so that they can be scarfed. _thinks_ I think it may have been mealworms or somesuch for pet feeding… ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/15 "2008-05-22T03:59:12Z")
Give me $100 and I’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/16 "2008-05-22T04:00:33Z")
Anyhow, my answer, sure. No problem. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/17 "2008-05-22T04:00:41Z")
I make quite a bit more than $1,000 for 35 hours of sitting in an office, working on a computer - I’m afraid that’s not much of a teaser. Maybe for $10,000. And it would depend on the number of maggots. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/18 "2008-05-22T04:38:22Z")
2 questions: How many? I’d probably eat a couple for free if the buddy were going to try them with me. Cooked, I imagine I could handle them a lot better than raw. Maybe like those things in snack mix I can’t quite ever figure out. They’re sesame sticks? ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/19 "2008-05-22T04:55:56Z")
I’d do it. Can’t guarentee that I wouldn’t faint in the process, but I’d at least give it a go for $1k. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/20 "2008-05-22T05:06:14Z")
No probs. I’d go as low as $500, but – cash up front. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195.md?page=2)