Would you consider eating bugs?

[undeterred]

Last edited Thu Mar 28, 2013, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Insects have served as a food source for people for tens of thousands of years, all over the planet. Today insect eating is rare in the developed world, but insects remain a popular food in many developing regions of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.

People from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Africa, Mexico, Columbia and New Guinea to name just a few, are regions where the inhabitants eat insects for nutritional value as well as for taste.

Some of the more popular insect and arachnids eaten around the world are: crickets, grasshoppers, ants, a variety of species of caterpillar, also referred to as worms, such as the mopani worm, silkworm and waxworm, and last but not least scorpions and tarantulas.

There are an estimated 1,462 species of recorded edible insects including arachnids. And in all likelihood, there are hundreds if not thousands more that simply haven’t been sampled or perhaps not even discovered yet.

http://www.insectsarefood.com/what_is_entomophagy.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Intentionally, no. Unintentionally, I'm positive I've eaten my share.

[Vincardog]

2. Chocolate Ants yes, been there done that. Read the list of allowable contaminants in processed food

We are all eating insects and rodent drooping (and pieces)O all the time.

[ZombieHorde]

3. I have before, and I guess I would again, but I wasn't really into them.

If I was traveling somewhere that served bugs, I would probably try them.

[LWolf]

4. If I had to. nt

[immoderate]

5. I sampled some grasshoppers, caterpillars, and ants, all prepared as delicacies when...

I pledged for a college fraternity 50 years ago.

It subsequently made it easy to try any food.

Nothing gets me sick!

--imm

[olddots]

6. Only if it wasn't made by Nestles

n.t

[kestrel91316]

7. Nope. If it comes to that, I'll keep chickens in cages on my balcony and

feed the damned bugs to THEM.

I love eggs. And chicken. Those yolks will be SO dark and tasty.

[laundry_queen]

17. LOL ^^^THIS.

I'll go out and catch grasshoppers for my chickens if I have to, but I won't be eating them myself if I can help it.

[Aerows]

36. Agreed. This ^^^

Except I really don't care for eggs, but I like them a hell of a lot better than bugs.

[Cleita]

58. Of course, the smart thing to do.

You can also find tasty seeds, you wouldn't want to eat yourself, but that the chickens or other edible birds might want to eat.

[Marrah_G]

8. no

[TacoD]

9. Why not? When you think about it, eating shrimp, lobster, etc. isn't that much different. (nt)

[undeterred]

11. As a ecologically minded vegetarian

I have to say I have no problem with it. If someone could demonstrate that the source was safe and the food nutritious, I think it might be a really good idea. It just seems like we think of insects as "dirty" and our ideas would have to change for them to become culturally accepted as food.

[OneGrassRoot]

29. I'm with you.

I'm a vegetarian, trending toward vegan. Yet I watched a show on this a year or so ago -- I think it focused on mealworms -- and I would try it. It makes sense nutritionally, economically and ecologically to me, and it looked like a good, crunchy snack that you can flavor different ways.

I guess I technically wouldn't be vegetarian any longer, but I'd still remain open to it.

I remember thinking after watching the show that it could also be a good locavore business.

[octothorpe]

37. Heh...Almost vegan, aye?

I read some interesting debates between vegans about the veganitiitititity of eating figs that are pollinated by wasps (the wasps die in the process)

I'm not sure if there any consensus on insect eating though, it seemed pretty divided.

[OneGrassRoot]

41. Yeah, I'm not big on even using the word vegan...

Not sure why the heck I did so here on DU, of all places.

Might as well stick with vegetarian even if I don't eat eggs or dairy. There are animals that have been harmed by me somewhere along the line (probably leather in shoes somewhere, as one example), and using that word invites scorn and attacks, trying to trip you up and prove you're a hypocrite.

So, my bad!

But, geez about the figs!!! That's a new one for me.

[Cleita]

102. Also, honey which is processed by bees first.

I really can't see where you can be a strict vegan. Even herbivores like cows and deer eat their share of bugs inadvertently. However about the wasps. If that's how Mother Gaia raises figs, who are we to question her wisdom? It's probably part of their life cycle, like salmon swimming upstream to spawn and then dying.

[OneGrassRoot]

104. So true!

Yes, yes...I don't even see the need to try to adhere to a strictly vegan lifestyle.

We can be compassionate and do no harm (or do as little as possible) without going crazy with it and evaluating every single thing to the nth degree, like the wasp/fig thing.

[undeterred]

107. I haven't read much on insect eating but I have to think it makes

more sense ecologically than eating meat. Its a good protein source in many cases, and its not as ethically offensive as eating animals. After being a vegetarian for almost 3 years I really look at it quite differently. How does what I choose to eat affect the planet? What do I really need?

The truth is that you can get used to almost anything if you choose to. We eat crunching things that are terrible for us - like potato chips - but we're horrified by eating a crunchy insect?

If there's ever a nuclear war and the cockroaches are the strongest survivors, the people who eat cockroaches might be the only ones left

[octothorpe]

35. hehehe, I can't eat shrimp or lobster because of the way they look....

It really makes no sense though, because cows, pigs, chickens and unicorns are weird looking too, but I eat those... Although, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact my burger isn't shaped like a cow when I eat it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

55. I've always heard that a lobster's closest land relative is a roach.

Made me wonder how roaches might taste once they're steamed or grilled.

[Chathamization]

57. I doubt it

I don't see any reason why cockroaches would be closer to lobsters than any other insects. I'd imagine that a fellow crustacean like the pill bug/potato bug would be much closer.

[Cleita]

59. Actually, they are closer to the grasshopper family, like crabs are closer

to arachnids.

[GoCubsGo]

84. Nope. Pillbugs.

Pillbugs, like lobsters, are crustaceans, not insects.

[cherokeeprogressive]

85. Roley poleys?

[GoCubsGo]

86. Yep. n/t

[hatrack]

93. Makes me think of "The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood

The story centers on a group of seriously hard-core environmentalists - scavengers, scroungers, but in a really creative way.

Anyway, one popular protein-rich option is maggots - or, as God's Gardeners refer to them, "land shrimp".

[RebelOne]

10. No, but at one time I did unknowingly.

Someone where I worked gave me what I thought were nuts. I looked on the jar where they came from and the label read "Fried Grasshoppers." They actually tasted like nuts.

[bluestate10]

12. Anyone that eats some foods that have artificial colors already have eaten something from

bugs.

[Retrograde]

13. Depends on how they're prepared

I've had chapulinas - Oaxacan marinated and roasted grasshoppers - that were quite tasty, but I think that was the marinade.

Noma, named the best restaurant in the world several years running (but that was before the food poisoning incident) once served a dish consisting of black ants in yogurt: it looked like someone had left out a bowl of yogurt and ants had gotten in. That, I'd probably skip (not that I can afford to eat there anyway).

Lots of people do eat other arthropods - shrimp, crayfish, lobsters.

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. ..or you may need to wear Depends.

[Tien1985]

14. I would give it a go

It might taste all right

[zappaman]

15. Sure.

I've eaten meal worms, ants, crickets, grasshoppers and a scorpion.
To this day, the worst thing I've ever eaten remains a McRib.

[alfredo]

16. Shrimp and lobsters, yes.

[HockeyMom]

18. Chocolate covered grasshoppers

As a child in NYC, there was a store which sold chocolate covered bugs, of all sorts. It grossed me out. Wouldn't eat that WITH chocolate, let alone without.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. I have, grasshoppers are tasty

As well as maguey worms.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. Bugs are arthropods.

Like lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, crabs…what's the big deal?

[Aerows]

34. I eat all four of those

and absolutely love them.

You are welcome to eat all of the bugs you can handle, and I'll take care of those four delicacies for you!

[unblock]

21. we all eat bugs, whether we're aware of it or not.

runners and cyclists are often aware of, um, unplanned snacks of the insect variety.

personally, i've eaten crickets at mexican restaurants (twice -- once in mexico d.f., once in manhattan).

any squeamishness about eating insects is purely mental. i mean, seriously, if eating insects is gross, how on earth is eating cow not?

[undeterred]

22. I agree, but mental is a big deal.

There are people on this earth who consider live grubs to be a delicacy. Can you imagine swallowing a live grub and feeling it move in your throat?
And there have been humans over the centuries who have consumed human flesh... that squeamishness is also mental, is it not?

[Cleita]

30. I cannot eat shrimp because of what it looks like. n/t

[Silent3]

63. When I eat cow, I don't eat *a* cow, not a whole cow...

...guts, brains, eyes, whatever was in its digestive track at the time, etc. I eat pretty much just the muscle and a bit of the fat.

Eating bugs strikes me too much like eating what I see on the ground when someone steps on a bug.

[Bonhomme Richard]

24. That bottom picture reminds me of my college dorm fridge. n/t

[undeterred]

25. Yummy.

[OneGrassRoot]

26. LOL! n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

27. Not voluntarily; however,

I am a camper and I've always said, "If you don't eat at least one bug per camping trip you're not doing it right."

[Aerows]

33. LOL

too true. I'm in the "not voluntarily" camp, myself.

[Cleita]

28. No. I've thought about it, but considering there are certain things

we consider okay to eat that I find revolting, no, I would probably starve if that was the only choice. I'm not a bird.

[El Supremo]

31. Only if they're well done.

Famous WC Fields quote. Look it up.

[Aerows]

32. Hell no

I'll eat everything - but not an insect. There is a line.

I love cheese, but I'll never eat maggot cheese, either. Just, no.

MAYBE if it was "shucked" from the shell identifying it as a bug I might eat it, but all of that just looks plain yucky to me.

I think I'm bigoted against bugs as food. Please feel free to eat as many as you want, I'll keep to mammals, amphibians, avians and everything in the sea.

[TlalocW]

38. Yes, in Oaxaca, Mexico

In college, I took my last class for a major in Spanish through a program through the university where you go to Mexico for a month with one of the professors who shows you around and then teaches whatever classes the participants sign up for. He gave us a list of suggested things to do while in Mexico (if we could - not all of us had an opportunity to attend a wedding or quinceanera even though we stayed with host families). One of them was eat grasshoppers, which are caught, cut up, and sauteed with chili powder in Oaxaca. I was always the first person to try something on the list so when we went to a market, there was a little girl with a big bowl of chopped up grasshoppers, offering samples, and I was the first in line.

Elsewhere in the market, I found a t-shirt with a drawing of an Americanized grasshopper (sneakers and fanny pack) with the words, "Yo comi chapulines en Oaxaca, Mexico," (I ate grasshoppers in Oaxaca). I opined to the professor that natives actually did not eat grasshoppers, but it was a city, if not state-wide, form of gambling (as well as a joke on tourists). Undoubtedly, when we walked into the market, everyone with a nearby stall for selling goods were watching us, making bets on who would and wouldn't eat them, who would be first, etc.

I have a similar theory about escargot in France. Only Americans are served actual snails, and the French are given "normal" food made up to look like snails.

TlalocW

[Luminous Animal]

46. Yes. Mexicans do eat grasshoppers and yes, the French do eat snails.

By the way, snails are very tasty, though the process of harvesting to table is time consuming. I haven't eaten grasshopper but I am not averse.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/escargot-zmaz93jjztak.aspx#axzz2OtPVrDlK
Escargot from your own backyard.

[TlalocW]

49. That's just what they WANT you to believe

It's a practical joke against foreigners that the whole country participates in.

TlalocW

[Luminous Animal]

52. Sometimes I think it is best to leave people alone with their own fanatacies.

[Cleita]

61. Snails are so disgusting and I'm constantly at war with them

in my yard and yes, those are the same escargot served in fancy restaurants. I often wondered how hungry the first Frenchman was who ate a snail to survive and decided with a little garlic, butter and thyme they were delicious.

[Luminous Animal]

62. I think they are cute... though yes, I battle them with copper and scissors...

Copper cuffs to keep them off the seedlings and scissors to cut the ones I find in the evening when I'm out critter hunting with my flashlight. And their slime trails can look downright pretty in the morning sun. Now, earwigs, those fuckers are disgusting.

[Cleita]

67. Earwigs are disgusting, but if you haven't had a snail crap yellow, ugly

body fluids all over you, you haven't been properly disgusted yet IMHO.

[Luminous Animal]

69. Well, like I said, I cut them up with scissors, so I regularly handle their goo...

but I also clean my cat's litter box. I prefer snail goo on me than cleaning a litter box.

[Cleita]

90. Well, you have a stronger stomach than me.

I put boards out. The snails gather under the boards which I pick up and scrape the snails into a bucket. Then I carry them down the road and throw them in the middle of it for the crows and ravens to feast on. (Private road. They aren't going to get hit by fast cars.) Some I give to our chickens, but mostly they become crow food. The crows know when I'm harvesting snails and they gather on the trees and utility wires to watch me and wait for their feast.

[closeupready]

65. OMG, escargot are so good - if that's a bug,

then I've already gone there and done that.

[Cleita]

66. It's a mollusk. It's not an insect but it's a bug as far as I'm concerned.

[MineralMan]

76. They're not disgusting.

I happened on a snail laying eggs on the monster jade plant in my front yard in California. So, I clipped off a small cutting where the eggs were and brought it into the house. I put it in a jar in the kitchen window. I got to see the baby snails emerge from the eggs. They're tiny and transparent, but are complete with a shell. I fed them kale and other leafy stuff for a week, so I could watch them grow, and then released them back near the jade plant.

Living things are not disgusting. Once you look more closely, they're all fascinating and beautiful.

[Cleita]

87. You know you are cultivating an invasive species that is not

a native?

[MineralMan]

96. Why, yes, I do know that.

But I just did that once, for my own education and enjoyment. The snails on the central coast of California seem to be well enough established, though, so I doubt I enabled their population much.

Did you know that those snails, like many species of snails, are true hermaphrodites? Each snail is both male and female. When they mate, each snail contributes semen to the other, and both snails lay fertilized eggs some time later. Since they're not particularly bashful, it's quite easy to find a mating pair to observe this unusual phenomenon. A very efficient sort of reproductive process, which may account for the large populations of snails in that area.

BTW, they're delicious, too. I fed a bunch of those California snails a controlled diet of salad greens in a closed environment, then purged them as recommended in the Larousse Encyclopedia of Cooking. Following that, I cooked up several dozen of them and served them as an appetizer to a group of friends who are foodies. Very nice. So, you see, I also control snail populations from time to time.

Another variety of snail, native to the area, is the turban snail. They occur in multitudes along rocky coastlines in California. As edible as the common garden snail, I first learned of their culinary qualities from a Filipino family that was gathering them near Montana de Oro. Best used to create a rich stock for seafood dishes, they have an excellent flavor, but not much flesh.

My Los Osos yard was quite the snail-breeding site. My plantings were to their liking and provided plenty of hiding places. Just another of the tiny critters I shared my life with.

Ever seen a colony of slender salamanders? Very interesting. I built them a special habitat in the yard, so I could check them out whenever I wanted. An amazing life cycle they have. Now, those are native to the area.

[NickB79]

72. With snails, you need to get the texture right

A friend's dad made some for me twice. The first time was fine, very edible. The second time, he did something that made it like chewing boot leather and cartilage at once. I nearly threw up at the table trying to choke down one of those bastards.

[Gormy Cuss]

39. Yeah, with lots of hot sauce.

[Aerows]

45. Okay

If there is enough hot sauce, even *I* might go there

[MrSlayer]

40. Only if I were starving to death.

I hate bugs. I can't even look at a cockroach, let alone consider eating it.

[Cleita]

100. I don't think I could even then.

However, there is a lot of plant food around if you know where to look for it. Also, as someone else mentioned, leave the bugs for the birds and eat the bird eggs and birds, instead.

[Elvin Ives]

42. It's all in the mind

For some people, it's probably as natural as chicken. I would consider it.

[Art_from_Ark]

43. How about some marinated bee larvae?

http://item.shopping.c.yimg.jp/i/f/namarazura_ha0001_1

[X_Digger]

44. Already have.

Crickets, mealworms, ants..

Mealworm burgers were the best.

[pink-o]

47. No. Nein. Nyet. Never.

There's a reason I'm vegetarian. And I love living in the 21st century where I can eschew food sources that my ancestors had to consume for survival. Like hot showers, my boutique diet comes from eons of social evolution. I'm not going backwards, no thank you!

[Jack Sprat]

48. Do they have nutrishional value?

If not, then I wouldn't under any circumstances.

I hate all of them. It's a real shame we can't eat them all up, so they cannot breed anymore and carry diseases. Why would God have created mosquitoes and houseflies? That's a good question to ask of the creationists.

[X_Digger]

50. We'd be ankle deep in shit (both literally and figuratively) without insects.

Our agriculture would collapse and we'd all starve, in short order.

[Jack Sprat]

53. Houseflies and mosquitoes?

How do you justify that?

[X_Digger]

74. All insects have an important role to play.

Who do you think starts the breakdown of animal poop? Or animal corpses?

Flies, along with bees, are important pollinators for food crops. Mosquitoes serve as a food source for young amphibians, reptiles, and other insects when nymphs, and for bats when adults.

It's the height of human arrogance to assume that we could destroy whole species without serious unintended repercussions.

[MineralMan]

77. Houseflies are very important

in carrion and fecal disposal. Without them, it would take much longer for both to disappear.

Mosquitoes? I can think of no justification for those.

[GoCubsGo]

94. Moquitoes are a prime food source for many other species.

Dragonflies being one, and they eat both adults and larvae. Fish and larval salamanders being two more, as they feed on the mosquito larvae. And, several bat species also eat mosquitoes. An individual bat can consume over a thousand mosquitoes per hour. A lot of bird species, such as swallows and flycatchers thrive on them, as well.

[MineralMan]

95. There you go! Everything has to eat.

Thanks!

[GoCubsGo]

97. Even the most loathesome creatures have their purpose.

Except for republicans. They serve no useful purpose, whatsoever.

[MineralMan]

99. You speak truth.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

51. No

[Luminous Animal]

54. Yes. I'd try them.

I'm not squeamish about food and bugs and worms don't seem any less potentially edible than a cow.

[RedCappedBandit]

56. If the macronutrient profile fits a given diet, why not?

[Coyotl]

60. All the bugs I've eaten have been delicious.

Good bugs are nonetheless difficult to find. Maybe an expedition to the Amazon is in order, to hunt a few good bugs and start a bug ranch.

[closeupready]

64. Aquatic bugs like shrimp or lobsters?

Um, yea.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

68. i want to say because i pride myself on being adventurous, but realistically, no

those things creep me out

[Poll_Blind]

70. Hell yeah:

PB

[sibelian]

71. Maaaaayyybe.

I imagine if they actually *taste* a bit like shrimp I could even become a fan. I can imagine making pill-bug soup! It's the way they look that's nasty, if you just chucked a whole load in a stock-pot to make some tasty shrimpy-flavoured stock I think that could be really nice. They might not taste like that at all, though...

[NickB79]

73. If farmed and made into a textured protein product, sure

As shown in the pic in your OP, no. Too many spiky legs and exoskeletons to be comfortable with.

[polly7]

75. I would starve first.

No way ..................... ever. I'm actually a little ill seeing those pictures. Bugs are my worst phobia. Strange, because I grew up on a farm and raised animals and worked in the dirt most of my adult life, but they really, truly freak me out.

[MineralMan]

78. Mmm...Witchety Grubs...

[treestar]

79. If very hungry

They could look good. Which is why I suppose they did to people in certain places at certain times. Then once used to eating them, it would not be so weird.

[GoCubsGo]

80. I already have eaten them.

I have had mealworms that were baked into oatmeal cookies. They're nice and nutty. I understand crickets are tasty, too. I have been told that they taste kind of like shrimp. Not surprising, since they're both arthropods. I would eat those, too. Just so long as the legs are removed. I think I'd have a difficult time eating a tarantula, but that's because I think they're way cool.

[Zorra]

81. If I was hungry enough, I suspect I'd eat just about anything that would be nourishing

and non-toxic.

I've eaten raccoon, rockchuck, porcupine, bear, and rattlesnake. They were all terrible. No, they do not taste like chicken.

I'll pass on the bugs for now.

[Trajan]

82. Even the squeamish would eat insects if they were starving to death

Hunger is a powerful feeling

[undeterred]

109. I think you're right.

People have eaten the bark off trees to get rid of the pain of hunger. I think a few days stranded out in the woods would make the squeamish willing to eat bugs.. I know I would.

[Scout]

83. no. not unless i was starving.

and i mean REALLY starving, not just hungry.

[markiv]

88. lobster and crab have similarites to bugs nt

[markiv]

89. regulations allow bug part limits in every food

note the keyword 'allow limit', as opposed to 'require absence'

so you've already eaten plenty

[Taverner]

91. I have and had

Some taste great, others, not so great

Silkworm larvae taste the best!

[woo me with science]

92. Is this a trial balloon from Monsanto? nt

[Avalux]

98. Yes. But not as a delicacy. Only if I had nothing else to eat.

I feel the same way about eating anything that was once alive.

[Little Star]

101. This thread is good for my diet. :)

[2naSalit]

103. I would simply stop eating.

If that's all there was left to eat, I would not eat at all. I think I would try to go into perpetual meditation, if it was worth it to remain on the planet in physical form, otherwise, I would be just as content to leave.

[mike_c]

105. LOL-- I'm an entomologist...

...which means that I was once an entomology grad student. Grad school parties. Beer. Regrettable behavior.

Yeah, I've eaten lots of bugs.

Still do occasionally, in different settings.

[sakabatou]

106. Only honey pot ants

[Liberal_in_LA]

108. ugh ewwww

[baldguy]

110. Ever eat anything with red dye in it?

Then you've eaten bugs.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-cochineal-insects-color-your-food-and-drinks-2012-3?op=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal

[AsahinaKimi]

111. Given a choice..

I would pass. Someone once dared me to eat a meal worm. I could only eat half of it. The idea of eating its head grossed me out.

[Still Blue in PDX]

112. Shrimp is as bug-like as I'll eat, and that is very rarely.

I'm a veg*n, but every once in a while when my son is eating sushi, a piece will call out to me.