"I ate a bug once.."
stories from those who Intentionally ate Insects and live to tell the tale
Have a story you would like to share? Contact me here.
L.G. writes:
"At the college where I teach, I'm the advisor for a student club called the "Food and Culture Club." One of our projects was to prepare and eat an insect-based meal. We sourced clean crickets and mealworms from an online company. We had fun trying to free the mealworms from their bran packing while they crawled in every direction. It took several hours. We sautéed the mealworms in olive oil and they smelled just like roasted almonds. We added them to an orzo pasta dish, and baked cricket chocolate chip cookies. The meal turned out delicious"
"At the college where I teach, I'm the advisor for a student club called the "Food and Culture Club." One of our projects was to prepare and eat an insect-based meal. We sourced clean crickets and mealworms from an online company. We had fun trying to free the mealworms from their bran packing while they crawled in every direction. It took several hours. We sautéed the mealworms in olive oil and they smelled just like roasted almonds. We added them to an orzo pasta dish, and baked cricket chocolate chip cookies. The meal turned out delicious"
C.R. writes:
"At Purdue University every spring there is the Bug Bowl. For several years, I both cooked chocolate covered crickets and ate them. They tasted a bit like Kit-Kat candy bars. So far as I know, the Thomas Say Society is still selling them every year at this event."
"At Purdue University every spring there is the Bug Bowl. For several years, I both cooked chocolate covered crickets and ate them. They tasted a bit like Kit-Kat candy bars. So far as I know, the Thomas Say Society is still selling them every year at this event."
K.L writes:
"I have been living in Zambia for the past two years. Here eating caterpillars is pretty normal and I have had some on occasion when offered by colleagues at the lunch table. Mopane worms, dried and then reconstituted are usual fare, sold on many a street corner. They taste something like spinach with artificial bacon bits, mostly vegetable flavored with a smoky umami crunch added. I like them better when I'm not thinking about how it's probably the heads that give the Baco- bits effect.
My spouse ate some kind of pupae at a church leaders' lunch but couldn't remember the name of them afterward, just said they were better than the sweet potatoes. After that I don't fuss too much about whether I have gotten all the weevils out of the rice before cooking it. Somehow though I feel it's poor form to have too many visible when it is served."
"I have been living in Zambia for the past two years. Here eating caterpillars is pretty normal and I have had some on occasion when offered by colleagues at the lunch table. Mopane worms, dried and then reconstituted are usual fare, sold on many a street corner. They taste something like spinach with artificial bacon bits, mostly vegetable flavored with a smoky umami crunch added. I like them better when I'm not thinking about how it's probably the heads that give the Baco- bits effect.
My spouse ate some kind of pupae at a church leaders' lunch but couldn't remember the name of them afterward, just said they were better than the sweet potatoes. After that I don't fuss too much about whether I have gotten all the weevils out of the rice before cooking it. Somehow though I feel it's poor form to have too many visible when it is served."
T.C. writes:
"We once made large drying-racks, collected 5-gallon commercial food-cans with tight-fitting lids, and dried large amounts of various foods. There was a big flush of fairy-ring mushrooms. We dried a sample-batch, tested & found them excellent, and went big-time on them. We stopped at a full 5-gallon can, tight-packed. Over 100 pounds, fresh. Wow...
Months later, using dried mushrooms daily, in quantity, my partner calls to me from the panty-area. I walk in and she is gazing intently at the inside of the lid to the open can of 'shrooms.
"That dust?", I prompt. She nods, not taking her gaze off the lid. "Watch it", she prompts.
"Ohhh .... it's moving, huh?" She nods. "I'd seen this stuff, and figured it was spore from the mushrooms. " "Me too!"
We get a magnifying glass, and they are very small mite-like ... bugs. By the millions. And we'd been eating them for ... quite awhile.
I think this used to be a pretty general thing, back when dried foods were a big deal. Comparable to grain beetles."
"We once made large drying-racks, collected 5-gallon commercial food-cans with tight-fitting lids, and dried large amounts of various foods. There was a big flush of fairy-ring mushrooms. We dried a sample-batch, tested & found them excellent, and went big-time on them. We stopped at a full 5-gallon can, tight-packed. Over 100 pounds, fresh. Wow...
Months later, using dried mushrooms daily, in quantity, my partner calls to me from the panty-area. I walk in and she is gazing intently at the inside of the lid to the open can of 'shrooms.
"That dust?", I prompt. She nods, not taking her gaze off the lid. "Watch it", she prompts.
"Ohhh .... it's moving, huh?" She nods. "I'd seen this stuff, and figured it was spore from the mushrooms. " "Me too!"
We get a magnifying glass, and they are very small mite-like ... bugs. By the millions. And we'd been eating them for ... quite awhile.
I think this used to be a pretty general thing, back when dried foods were a big deal. Comparable to grain beetles."
A.L. writes:
"Fried grasshoppers are crispy and delicious and pretty much any insect is good with chocolate, and ground meal worms can be used as great chocolate chip cookie batter and nobody knows they are eating insects."
<- - - you get my expert enotmophagist award!
"Fried grasshoppers are crispy and delicious and pretty much any insect is good with chocolate, and ground meal worms can be used as great chocolate chip cookie batter and nobody knows they are eating insects."
<- - - you get my expert enotmophagist award!
J.C. writes:
"About a year ago I went to Mexico on vacation. When I was walking around there were a lot of street vendors selling food; one item they all had were these bags filled with what looked like dark brown potato chips. I decided to try them and they were really good they tasted like salt, lime and chili so I ate them often on my trip. Two weeks later I found out they were actually crushed and fried crickets!. Still some of the best chips I have ever had."
"About a year ago I went to Mexico on vacation. When I was walking around there were a lot of street vendors selling food; one item they all had were these bags filled with what looked like dark brown potato chips. I decided to try them and they were really good they tasted like salt, lime and chili so I ate them often on my trip. Two weeks later I found out they were actually crushed and fried crickets!. Still some of the best chips I have ever had."
J.P. writes:
"I had scorpions at a restaurant called Typhoon in the Santa Monica, CA airport of all places, and actually got the idea from seeing it on one of Andrew Zimmern's bizarre foods shows. I don't think I would have had the guts to do it otherwise. A mix of normal bug and fine-dining, the Scorpions were served after being sauteed lightly, and then placed on Shrimp toast, which served more as a methodology for not having to hold them by the pincers when eating them. I, being out to disgust my eating partner (who thought my choice of Scorpions and Frog Legs for dinner was, well, strange), took the last of the three off the toast. I knew in the back of my head that this is a normal thing - insects are a huge source of protein in areas that aren't developed or that lack other protein sources - but I still paused when taking the first bite. I'm glad I did: the experience was awesome. They were crunchy, much like a cracker of sorts, and had a bright lemongrass-y taste to them. There wasn't a sour or scary or gross flavor -- like much "eaters" food (tripe, sweetbreads, head cheese, etc.) it is all about getting your mind to go along with your tastebuds. I loved it, and if I have the chance to eat them again, I will, hopefully from a street vendor somewhere along side a few other delicacies."
"I had scorpions at a restaurant called Typhoon in the Santa Monica, CA airport of all places, and actually got the idea from seeing it on one of Andrew Zimmern's bizarre foods shows. I don't think I would have had the guts to do it otherwise. A mix of normal bug and fine-dining, the Scorpions were served after being sauteed lightly, and then placed on Shrimp toast, which served more as a methodology for not having to hold them by the pincers when eating them. I, being out to disgust my eating partner (who thought my choice of Scorpions and Frog Legs for dinner was, well, strange), took the last of the three off the toast. I knew in the back of my head that this is a normal thing - insects are a huge source of protein in areas that aren't developed or that lack other protein sources - but I still paused when taking the first bite. I'm glad I did: the experience was awesome. They were crunchy, much like a cracker of sorts, and had a bright lemongrass-y taste to them. There wasn't a sour or scary or gross flavor -- like much "eaters" food (tripe, sweetbreads, head cheese, etc.) it is all about getting your mind to go along with your tastebuds. I loved it, and if I have the chance to eat them again, I will, hopefully from a street vendor somewhere along side a few other delicacies."
