# Would you rather eat cheese or bugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002 "2001-10-07T23:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/21 "2001-10-08T02:56:34Z")
Cheese. Definitely cheese. Mmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/22 "2001-10-08T03:09:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ARose \* > **My step-father and I’s motto is “death by cheese.” You can put cheese on anything. You can eat cheese with anything. So many kinds of cheese… oh god, they’re totally tasty!! You are, quite simply, nuts for not liking cheese. You have my sympathy Brynda, for dating someone who won’t eat cheese! Hehe… just kidding, but I love cheese (if you didn’t get that from the earlier statements).** I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say that you can put cheese on anything - but any food that is not improved by adding more cheese is probably not a food worth eating in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/23 "2001-10-08T03:15:20Z")
Quinoa wrote: > [@](#): > > i have this look of utter horror on my face after reading that someone willingly puts little squirmy things in their mouth and enjoys it! larvae? you eat larvae?? live?!? > > _wigs out_ I take it you prefer some of the earlier agricultural cereal crops? 🙂 Yeah, I do. And–I know this is hard to believe, but–yes, I really do like them. I didn’t post that just to make people retch. Many of our food preferences are learned and are purely cultural. There’s a book out there called _Man Eating Bugs_. It’s about the chowing down on many-legged critters practiced by different cultures throughout the world. Maybe if you were from Bali, you’d love “sky prawns” (i.e., dragonflies). Perhaps if you were an Australian aboriginie, you’d love Watchiti grubs. I have met and spoken with people from China who think that cheese is the most vile stuff ever invented–after all, who in their right mind would eat spoiled milk?–but who consider mopane–dried silkworms–a delicacy. You might want to consider munching on terrestrial arthropods a cross-cultural experience. ---
**Author:** ![BigGiantHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b4bc9f/32.png) [@BigGiantHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigGiantHead)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/24 "2001-10-08T03:17:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Cheese, glorious CHEESE! It’s the heart of my stomach! \*\* Anyone else start hearing that song from “Oliver!” the musical at this point? This goes right along with the tune to “Food, glorious FOOOOD! Hot sausage and MUStard!” And I would like to be the obligatory wet blanket for any entophagiphobes above (and yes, I DID just make that up) who have ever consumed shrimp, lobster, crab, etc., etc. Quit fooling yourself. Bigger, salt-water dwelling, but basically the same damn thing. Course, you won’t catch ME snacking on grasshoppers any time soon, but I’m fine with being a complete hypocrite… 😃 - Dave ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/25 "2001-10-08T03:24:07Z")
[Wallace] CHEEEEEESE, Gromit! [/Wallace] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/26 "2001-10-08T03:27:54Z")
than beef, pork or chicken. Tobacco hornworms taste much like shrimp. Grasshopppers taste like oysters. I learned these things at the University of Wyoming Insect Cook-Off. You may have seen me eating bugs on CNN a few years ago. I was the guy wearing the Indiana Jones hat. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/27 "2001-10-08T03:38:56Z")
_Man Eating Bugs_ is a great book. I checked it out of the library a few months ago. Now I want it for my coffee table. Made me look at bugs completely differently. Coincidentally, I recently stopped eating dairy products. At this point, I think I’d rather eat a few bugs than a slice of cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/28 "2001-10-08T04:14:42Z")
Jesus Scribble… shutup! Waxworms? I used to feed those to my lizards on occasion as a treat… the thought never even fucking crossed my mind as to pop one in my mouth. They’re like huge soft booger texture maggots. I bet they burst when you bite 'em don’t they?!?! MAN I used to LOVE Bleu Cheese!!! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/29 "2001-10-08T04:50:17Z")
I can’t identify with any position that the OP has made. In fact, I’d like to suggest that a Congressional Committee be appointed to look into whether or not people who hate cheese should have their citizenship revoked. If they’re not a US citizen, they should be denied access. Last month, a friend of mine came back from Europe with a small wheel of gouda. From Gouda, The Netherlands(or whichever country Gouda is in). I asked this most wonderful friend why I had deserved this wheel of wonderfulness. He said that he remembers me at one point uttering the phrase “Cheese is God.”, and thus I was the most deserving of the gouda. But seriously, bugs?!? ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/30 "2001-10-08T05:20:49Z")
Whammo yelped: > [@](#): > > Jesus Scribble… shutup! Well, gee. I’m incredibly sorry if my opinions, info, and tastes disgust you. But that isn’t going to keep me from posting. If you don’t want to know about cheese mites or other lesser-known edible arthropods, you probably shouldn’t have asked about them in the first place. After all, this board _is_ about fighting ignorance. > [@](#): > > Waxworms? I used to feed those to my lizards on occasion as a treat… the thought never even fucking crossed my mind as to pop one in my mouth. They’re like huge soft booger texture maggots. Well, I suppose you could see them as “soft booger texture maggots.” But the mere fact that your lizards used to eat them doesn’t rule them out as food for humans. An ex-roommate’s pet iguana used to eat cucumbers, but that doesn’t mean that we humans can’t eat those veggies too. > [@](#): > > I bet they burst when you bite 'em don’t they?!?! Yeah. They do. But, then again, so do juicy grapes and many candies. Live waxworms taste a bit like milky Grape-Nuts. When sauteed, they’re a lot like shrimp with a slightly nutty flavor. Neither of those tastes is bad. > [@](#): > > MAN I used to LOVE Bleu Cheese!!! Why should you like Bleu cheese any less now than you did before you heard of cheese mites? Obviously, you’ve been scarfing down the little critters–live, no less!–for a while now and suffered no ill effects. You do know that you were happily munching on teeming swarms of live bacteria when you were eating bleu cheese, didn’t you? Why should it strike you as shocking that other microscopic organisms would be hanging out there, too? After all, cheese is a pretty rich source of nutrients for a wide variety of living things. Hell, man. Don’t be so squeamish. Bleu cheese is still yummy, mites or no mites. 🙂 –Scribble. ---
**Author:** ![quinoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a9adbd/32.png) [@quinoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quinoa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/31 "2001-10-08T05:41:17Z")
cross cultural experiences eh? i think i’ll stick to stinky tofu and various bean desserts! at least they don’t squiggle! (and aside from the gross factor, i don’t eat any animal critters either so i’ll just stick to my veggies and soy stuff and take your word for it on the yum factor of larvae.) and ‘man eating bugs’… that book. that book is the book i flipped through with morbid fascination and then hurredly flung across the bookstore screaming quite loudly (causing my brothers to ask what is wrong with me) because i turned to full page maggotopia. YICK. (i just really wig out about wormy type things. other bugs don’t bother me that much.) ---
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/32 "2001-10-08T06:19:54Z")
I would rather eat bugs than cheese. I hate cheese with the same loathing that RickQ does. I don’t like the smell, the texture , or the taste. I don’t eat sour cream or even cream cheese. Yeeeeeccchhhh. Oddly enough, I was born, raised, and still live in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin. And when I request no cheese on my order at a fast food joint I get a look as if I was turning down gold. “What?!?! No CHEESE on your double decker tacos?!?!?!? Are you SURE?” Yes I’m sure NO CHEESE! Now returning you to your regularly scheduled IMHO thread… ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/33 "2001-10-08T06:21:13Z")
Fair enough, Quinoa. My “wig out” food possibility is roaches. I refuse to even entertain the idea of chowing down on a roach. _The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook_ has some recipes involving them, but you won’t see me trying Gregor Samsa Samosas. Ever. I would definitely pick cheese–even crappy, flavorless, white supermarket cheese–over a roach any day of the week. –Scribble. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/34 "2001-10-08T06:23:08Z")
[slight hijack] BTW, Quinoa, I’m also a fan of tofu and of bean desserts. I’ve had some very good frozen red bean bars and a few very tasty Taiwanese pastries with bean fillings. The vast majority of what I eat would probably not be considered perverse by most other people. [/slight hijack] ---
**Author:** ![quinoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a9adbd/32.png) [@quinoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quinoa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/35 "2001-10-08T06:56:59Z")
(on scribble’s tangent) there are these yummy green bean cookies that i got from taiwan that some friends ‘affectionately’ call green bean chalk. i delight in always offering them some. (hee) and one of my mom’s friends gave her some fresh mooncakes last week. the red bean one is delicious but the green bean pastry one is so beyond delicious! yum! _offers some_ mooncakes = better than cheese and bugs ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/36 "2001-10-08T07:03:09Z")
(continuing the tangent…we’ll get back to the OP, really, I swear…) Mooncakes are pretty good, I agree. I don’t remember having any really incredible ones, though. Maybe I have to find a better source. I don’t think I’ve ever had them really fresh. A friend (well, I haven’t talked to her for a while, and, honestly, we don’t have that much in common these days, so maybe she’s not really my friend any more) from Tsingdao, China once made me homemade steamed buns with bean filling. They were wonderful. (ending discussion on this tangent. Really, we shouldn’t be hijacking like this…) ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/37 "2001-10-08T07:04:18Z")
So do you have a good recipe for mooncakes? ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/38 "2001-10-08T07:41:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jophiel \* > \*\*Did they teach you how to forage cheese in the wilderness? \*\* Why, yes. Yes they did. One must first track the dreaded _Roue de Fromage_ to its lair, deep inside the dark recess of the ice box. One must then remove its pelt with the utmost care before consuming. The _jaune_ variety is best eaten raw or lightly broiled. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nerv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@nerv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nerv)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/39 "2001-10-08T15:29:44Z")
There was a thread a while back about how to kill cockroaches, and while reading this cheese/bugs thread it occurred to me that you could whack a roach with a big slab of cheese and then pop it in the microwave while it was still stunned, zap it for a minute, and then reward yourself with a nice crunchy/melty cheese snack. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002/40 "2001-10-08T20:14:23Z")
I’ve eaten bugs (ants, as an experiment). They were OK, but most kinds of cheese are better. On the other hand, I would probably eat ants again before I ate blue cheese, but this is because I’ve had Very Bad Experiences with blue cheese. (There’s being sick, and then there’s being sick in a Third World airport between the hours of one and five in the morning, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-eat-cheese-or-bugs/86002.md?page=3)