Eating bugs

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What is your view on this?

I think it's a great idea. A lot of bugs are very good for your health. Crickets, meal worms, super worms... All very healthy and easy to breed for a much larger food supply. The trick is learning how to cook them properly, but once you have, they are not only tasty, but a healthy treat, especially if they've been gutloaded with very healthy foods. I think if there comes a time where people are lacking healthy food sources, a lot of people will resort to eating and breeding bugs, or at least it would be a smart thing to do.

Spiders, and anything that flies - are a no no.

As a vegetarian, I personally don't see much difference between eating a mealworm and eating a cow. I'm sure bugs are delicious; shrimp and lobsters are basically bugs, right?

A lot of people eat bugs. In South Africa they eat caterpillars. In Oaxaca they also eat grasshoppers. I've eaten grasshoppers myself. They're crunchy and pretty salty, but good. Bugs and worms are also eaten in other parts of the world. I know there's a certain type of bee or wasp or something people eat. Different cultures cook and eat them in different ways.

I probably wouldn't eat flies, but certain kinds of spiders... Maybe. I think I would prefer a large tarantula charred on a grill:P

Yes some bugs are delicious. I never really looked into your question, but as a non vegetarian meat loving savage, it doesn't really matter when I'm chowing down on em:)

In the Asian supermarket here in Seattle they sell cooked frozen grubs (they call it cooked Dade - nhong luoc). Being the adventurous type I bought a package. It took about two weeks before I tried to eat it. I marinated it in hot curry sauce for hours, heated it then attempted to eat it. I couldn't do it. I just didn't have the cajones so I flushed the whole enchilada down the drain. The Vietnamese, BTW, already have a long history of starvation and poverty so that's why everything that's ever walked, swam or flew end up on their table. I have eaten unusual things in the past though, just not insects.

Ah yes, I've had grasshopper too. I love the crunchy, salty, and smoky flavor when cooked. Bugs are very popular in some other countries, I don't know why they aren't in the US. I guess a lot of us are just used to convenience and are squeemish.

I have also tried mealworm. Sweet nutty and crunchy chitin shell! Could eat em like potato chips... by the handfuls!

I never tried those before, but they look interesting. I need to go to an AZN supermarket now! What was the name of the super market if you can remember?

I've never tried it, but I'll try anything once as long as it isn't toxic.

The market that sells cooked Dade in Seattle is HT Market in the Oak Tree Plaza at 100th St & Aurora. HT stands for Hop Thanh. Generally, markets like that, including Uwajimaya and Wah Market in the International District, sell foods that would make most Americans cringe: pig bung, snails, pig blood...I've heard they may also have fried starfish but I haven't seen it.

Beef is less squirty than bugs are when you bite into it.

As a predatory omnivore... well, a carrion-eating omnivore actually, seeing that I don't hunt myself and instead buy parts of corpses that have been dead for days... I don't see much difference between eating a chicken leg and a head of lettuce The only difference is that my meat is already dead, whereas the lettuce is still alive and breathing when I eat it. It seems crueler to me to bite into respiring, living tissue that might grow roots again if you put it in soil, but I don't care as long as it's healthy and tastes good.

Anyway, you're correct that there isn't much of a difference between insect larvae and shrimps. Both are arthropods, and both are quite healthy (low in fat, high in protein). I love shrimps and lobster and would give mealworms a try. What I wouldn't eat though is locusts, because they're served in the carapace. I prefer my meat without a chitinous wrapper. If it's too much effort to peel the bugs, they're not worth eating.

Mealworms have a carapace too? I somehow thought they resembled maggots. If they have an exoskeleton, I wouldn't try them. I don't want to pick tiny limbs and mandibles and other chitinous bits out of my teeth Isn't that kind of like eating unpeeled shrimps?

Perhaps we should clone prehistoric arthropods from fossil DNA Their giant size would justify the effort of peeling them first. I bet one could cut more than a hundred juicy steaks out of arthropleura.



I'm not sure if they would thrive in today's oxygen poor atmosphere, but even if they'd only grow to the size of rabbits, it would be worth the effort.

Edited to add: Although much smaller than Arthropleura, Meganeura would also be worth firing up the grill for. Baguette-sized yumminess. All the hunter needs is a very large flyswatter.

Last edited by CrazyCatLord on 17 May 2012, 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I find the idea significantly less disgusting than eating chickens, cows, and pigs.