Tuesday, February 22, 2011

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR INSECTS COOKED?

I ran across an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal this weekend about eating insects, which is popular in many countries across the world.  Loaded with protein, many people put insect parts in dishes, tacos, or other delicacies. Of course, you can always just eat them like sunflower seeds!

So, could "bugs" be the meat of the future?  How full of pesticides will they be?!

Happy eating crunching...          
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27025962@N00/3146959299/
"Giant Grasshopper" by Gabi Max
                                                      

8 comments:

  1. This is a very interesting solution to what looks like a growing food shortage. However, I cannot see future Americans lining up to get "Frosty Flies" or some other insect products in place of traditional foods. What is amazing (although not extremely surprising given all of the closed-door machinations of the food industry) is the amount of insects already in our food! I guess my 7th grade science teacher was ahead of the game when she brought bbq crickets into class one day for snacks.

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  2. Yes! Your teacher was ahead of the game. Did you note the recipe for "Crispy Crickets"?! Who knew? At Richard's Variety Store in Midtown, you can purchase mealworms to eat.

    I'm not there...yet. Especially if roaches are ever on the menu... :)

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  3. While the idea of eating creepy, crawly, crunchy critters completely repulses me, increasing the bug content in the world's food supply may be the tactic to turn to...at least before producing our meet from test tubes and petri dishes...But the U.S. is going to have to be eased into it :)

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  4. This article made me remember when my brother ate a grasshopper for a boyscouts thing and I was SO digusted. In 7th grade, we ate meal worms and I actually threw up... but if I didn't what they were, I might not have a problem, but having the teacher stand in front of me and say "You are eating bugs... BUGS!!!!" did not help. It is not my thing, but we will support anyone else's right to eat bugs. :)

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  5. Hahahahaha! Which Corn Capitalist threw up meal worms???!!!!

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  6. Actually an aquarium gift shop I went to over the summer with a camp in CA sold flavored bugs, for human consumption (cheddar cheese flavored mealworms, baked potato flavored crickets etc.)Camp dare...I actually tried a few and they really weren't that bad. It's all a matter of the way we were raised thinking bugs aren't a food item. As mentioned they may be an integral part of another culture's diet.(And I'm sure that culture views us as incredibly bizarre as well.) I also saw a show a long time ago that brought up cooking with bugs, and featured restaurants that cooked bug focused meals (and they were surprisingly incredibly expensive). But if it comes down to it, with all the artificial flavors that are added to them, to get people to eat them, are we really getting a health benefit? And as for the environment in all this, a large growth in insect populations (especially if they escape) can be disastrous to native plants and animals. -Jennifer

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  7. EWWWWW!
    I would so much rather eat meat made in a lab than a bug! SO nasty!
    I'm sorry but I will never even think of eating an insect....I can't even touch one without crying....

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  8. Quite frankly even though this idea does creep me out, it is a good idea. Bugs are a good food source and they require less resources to grow. I guess I would rather eat bugs than starve.
    -Quinn Rhodes

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