This fly crafted from different foods is perfectly edible.
The actual insect may be harder for many to swallow.
© Thinkstock

New Views About Insects as Food

When I was a child, Brussels sprouts were disgusting. I knew this quite well because so many of the book and TV characters I loved told me so. No way was I going to eat Brussels sprouts!

Then a respected friend, who happened to be a Brussels sprouts supporter, convinced me to try the tiny cabbages. I did, and, it turns out, Brussels sprouts are actually pretty good.

My view of Brussels sprouts changed when someone I knew and respected convinced me to try them.

Is it possible for us to apply this same thinking to something we’d rather squash under our shoe than eat?

I’m talking about bugs. As food.

Can a beautiful presentation make fried worms taste delicious?
© Thinkstock

A Cookbook Recommendation

David George Gordon, author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, is a strong supporter of entomophagy, or eating bugs.

He thinks that you shouldn’t just throw an insect in food for the sake of adding an insect, though. His opinion is that recipes should use bugs to add a specific taste or texture. He also happens to prefer his insects whole and visible rather than ground and hidden.

So you can see the bugs. And their six legs. And often many eyes.

Apparently, fried grasshoppers are crunchy and taste
mostly like the oil or seasoning that covers them.
© Thinkstock

A World-Wide Recommendation

The United Nations released a publication supporting bug-eating. It says:

• Bugs are more environmentally efficient to raise than other meat sources.
• Insects are packed with protein.
• They occur naturally throughout the world.
• Many cultures already eat them.
• They can be eaten whole, thus requiring minimal processing.

These are logical reasons. I’m listening.

A Restaurant Recommendation

Monica Martinez has an edible-insect food cart, Don Bugito, in San Francisco.

Her web site explains that she offers “rather unusual but tasty creative foods inspired by Mexican pre-Hispanic and contemporary cuisine with locally sourced ingredients. We believe in the future of edible insects as a smart answer to the existing demand for and shortage of high-protein foods on the planet.”

At first, Martinez herself was not so certain about the idea of eating bugs. Then she observed that the insects actually are not dirt-consuming filth. They just eat grains and carrots. After that, the idea of eating them didn’t seem so bad to her.

She goes on to explain that the process of, uh, preparing the insects is quite simple compared to another live protein source: “I would freeze [the insects] so they’d die. I have some in my fridge right now. It’s easy and simple compared to having a cow in my backyard. I’d have to sacrifice the cow, kill the cow, blood all over, organs all over. What am I going to do with that?”

Martinez serves insect tacos and ice cream, as well as chocolate covered salted crickets.

Chocolate?

OK, I’m almost convinced.

An Award-Winning Recommendation

A group of McGill University students recently accepted the 2013 Hult Prize for their innovative idea to produce year-round crops of micro-livestock (a new name—a new view?).

Noting that 2.5 billion people worldwide consume insects, the team visited different insect farms in Thailand, Mexico, and Kenya to observe the current growing and harvesting techniques. They shared their ideas for creating easier-to-harvest and more efficient and affordable crops to the enthusiastic farmers. They even started working with the Kenyan farmers to grow crickets.

While the students had thought that crickets were the ultimate solution world-wide, through research, they learned it is better to stay local. So grasshoppers are the proposed crop in Mexico, while palm weevils flourish in Ghana and caterpillars in Botswana.

Oh, I see! It sounds like there is a solid future in this idea.

People disagree on how fried silkworms taste.
Some say they have very little taste. Others say they taste like shrimp.
One person described the taste as “coconut cream.”
© Thinkstock

Bug Appétit!

Eating insects seems like a very logical idea. Starting with ground-up insects that aren’t staring back at me may be easiest. In time, I might progress to whole insects.

And with a new view on eating insects as food, I may soon be asking my waiter, “Excuse me, where is the fly in my soup?”

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.