http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991008.html
I just want to say, for the record, that I have eaten a “Creme de Menthe Cricket” Lollipop, and that it tasted like a meaty nut. As for the actual flavour, it was hard to determine due to the creme de menthe flavouring.
My brother-in-law was the sous chef in one of the DC restaurants Cecil mentions… The Insect Club… don’t know if it’s still there. One of his daily duties was to bake the crickets. He’d pour a heaping helping of frozen crickets onto a baking sheet and bake them for use in the day’s menu.
Never ate there myself. Never accepted any leftovers either.
Anyone see yesterday’s BC comic in the Sunday funnies?
I did, Tom. For this post and that cartoon to have hit at approximately the same time has to be a classic case of synchronicity!
Anyone know of the other DC restaurants Cecil was talking about? I’m a student there (American University) and thought they might make an interesting departure from the cafeteria food.
I actually just tasted an ant a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t mean to-- I just scratched and itch on my lower lip, and then moments later licked my lips and tasted something nasty and bitter. It turned out to be the carcass of the ant that had been causing the itch. I can’t recommend it, sadly, although admittedly this was just a garden variety ant, not one of those exotic South American numbers.
Rex
A friend of mine has suffered the malady entomophagy extremis since childhood when he began consuming cockroaches, silverfish and centipedes – a condition that persists to this day.
His physician ascribes it to lead which leeched from the paint on a set of Daffy Duck - Tasmanian Devil - Foghorn Leghorn Warner Bros. cartoon juice glasses his mother bought from the Piggly Wiggly when he was five.
I’ve had mealworms (fried with plantain), cricket (chocolate-covered, baked, and sauteed, grasshopper (also chocolate-covered as well as with saffron and a nice pilaf), ants in various forms (including live), grubs, and termites. I enjoyed all of them (although the pilaf was a little sticky).
I’m not going to cook insects for myself, nor will I cook them for myself anytime soon, but they don’t freak me. I haven’t been able to get over my roach aversion, altough I know folks who have.
And I wouldn’t choose insects as my primary source of protein. But them’s good eatin’ if prepared right.
'Course I still won’t eat olives. Go fig.
-andros-
“Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!” Exceptions? None!
-Doc Bronner