Eating bugs

[frankly]

Is anyone eating insects? I'm especially interested to know if anyone is raising insects for food? I'm also curious to know if there are any casual insect foragers out there. One thing everyone seems to agree on is that our ancestors probably ate a large amount of bugs. We also know that most of our primate relatives seek out insects as a food source. It seems that we're letting our modern cultural prejudices get in the way of what should be part of a normal diet.

Anyway, I've been reading up on the subject, in case anyone interested in some links:

Good National Geographic page about insects as food (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0715_040715_tvinsectfood.html)
* Has an interesting tie-in to the agrarian revolution turning us against bugs.

Good site for raising, cooking and eating mealworms and crickets. (http://www.eatbug.com/raising_insects.htm)

Bunch of good edible insect info. (http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/bugfood2.htm)

[Nancy LC]

There is an entymologist society that has a dinner every year where bugs are featured heavily. :) It always tickled me.

But no, I don't eat bug and don't think I ever will. It fascinates yet repels me!

However if I'm ever faced with a starvation situation, I'll be eating bugs!

[Sandollar]

I ate chocolate covered ants once. Does that count?

[MandalayVA]

I ate chocolate covered ants once. Does that count?

I ate them too--they tasted like Nestle's Crunch.

I went to the Eatbug site and for some reason this cracked me up:

Then put the crickets or mealworms in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer until they are dead but not frozen.

I just had a vision of sticking my head in the freezer and hearing little crickets chirp "I'm not dead yet!" :D

[mike_d]

I found yellowish white grubs in a stump out front that are as large as a hot dog. I suppose some native people or animals eat them?

I saw this thread and Google shows some from Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub

[neverwhere]

I'm all for eating like my ancestors, as in, cutting out the processed foods, and all that.

But bugs take it a little too far for me. Sorry. I'm not THAT close to nature ;)

[kallyn]

Wasn't there someone in this forum a few years back who fried up some grubs and ate them? I'll try to find the post.

[kallyn]

Here it is!
http://forums.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=226407&highlight=worms

[Locarb4mee]

There's a reason they have to pay you money to do that i.e. Fear Factor :lol:

[Sandollar]

I found yellowish white grubs in a stump out front that are as large as a hot dog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub****THUD****
(I fainted.)

[waywardsis]

Anyone ever watch Man vs Wild (Discovery Channel), or Survivor Man (OLN, in Canada anyway)? These guys get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and basically show you how to survive in various climates/terrains etc. On Man vs Wild last night, cutie-pie Bear Grylls (a former SAS, and sooooooo adorable!) was in the Kimberley (Austrailan outback) during the wet season and not only ate a huge spider, but drank his own urine. The episode prior, he ate several enormous grubs. Live. He said the texture inside is like cream cheese.

Blecchhhh. (But he is HOT)

[MandalayVA]

Anyone ever watch Man vs Wild (Discovery Channel), or Survivor Man (OLN, in Canada anyway)? These guys get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and basically show you how to survive in various climates/terrains etc. On Man vs Wild last night, cutie-pie Bear Grylls (a former SAS, and sooooooo adorable!) was in the Kimberley (Austrailan outback) during the wet season and not only ate a huge spider, but drank his own urine. The episode prior, he ate several enormous grubs. Live. He said the texture inside is like cream cheese.

Blecchhhh. (But he is HOT)

If he's drinking his own urine I hope he uses mouthwash before he kisses me. :D

I've heard that grubs are supposed to be pretty good but it would be the kind of thing where I'd want them served to me without anyone telling me what it was so I could eat it and not be grossed out.

[LessLiz]

You guys might find this (http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html) interesting.

[Locarb4mee]

Good Lord. I'd have to be AWFULLY hungry and desperate.

The most creeped-out I have ever been watching TV was the Fear Factor show where they had to eat some kind of big, fat spider. I'm truly not that squeamish and I found it impossible to watch them do it. My goosebumps had goosebumps!!

Funny isn't it, though, how vastly different our perceptions are based on our cultures? I remember a story about my uncle (captain in the Navy) visiting a Middle Eastern or Greek dignitary years ago. To honor him, they offered him the sheep's eyeball at the meal as a gesture of goodwill or something like that. He said it was the hardest thing he ever tried to do.

Inside of grubs like cream cheese, huh? I'll be pondering that next time I eat some. :lol:

[Sandollar]

ate a huge spiderYES!!!!! I SAW THAT LAST NIGHT!!! I freaked out! I am terrified of spiders and I think I felt myself dry-heave when I watched it.

Bush tucker is not for me, I'm afraid. :p

I worked with a Malaysian woman who drank a glass of her own urine each morning for "health benefits."

**THUD**

(Fainted again!!!!)

[waywardsis]

YES!!!!! I SAW THAT LAST NIGHT!!! I freaked out! I am terrified of spiders and I think I felt myself dry-heave when I watched it.

Bush tucker is not for me, I'm afraid. :p

I worked with a Malaysian woman who drank a glass of her own urine each morning for "health benefits."

**THUD**

(Fainted again!!!!)

Bush tucker is not for me either. I don't know what I'd do. I have a thing with bugs. Spiders I like - but only bc they eat other bugs, so I figure we're on the same team.

I can't imagine what health benefirs urine would have, considering it's something our bodies are getting rid of. He did say it's 95% water? Ugh...I rarely feel sick watching stuff like that, but it really grossed me out to see him whiz in his canteen and then chug it down...and it dripped down his chin!! Augh!!

[frankly]

Here it is!
http://forums.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=226407&highlight=worms

Thanks, that was a great thread, especially this post. (http://forums.lowcarber.org/showpost.php?p=2904894&postcount=4)

[frankly]

You guys might find this (http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html) interesting.
That's amazing, I'd no idea; you never seem to see that on the menu at the Thai restaurants here ;) It's quite a selection, this plate is amazing.

http://importfood.com/media/insect_plate_l.jpg

[Heidihi]

I have not eaten a bug on purpose ....however when i am out of doors and they have gotten into my food ..I dont stop eating ..does that count?

I have eaten raw baby crabs Korean style in a really amazing hot chile sauce..They were about the size of a quarter maybe a tiny bit bigger..and I imagine that would be alike a big bug ...maybe a beetle with less guts .while I think the flavor is outstanding the texture of those pointy little feet digging into your tongue and cheeks while you are chewing ...
a huge cack factor where I am concerned ..but I like the flavor enough to work around it ..I just take off the legs and eat the bodies now

so I might eat a bug some day I guess :D

[Heidihi]

those top left bugs look kind of like dates

[Heidihi]

I will eat a bug but i am not drinking pee

[Locarb4mee]

<<<crossing dates off the menu along with cream cheese>>>

:lol:

Actually I love crispy fried soft shelled crabs. Can bugs be that different?? All in our perceptions I suppose.

[mike_d]

Wasn't there someone in this forum a few years back who fried up some grubs and ate them? I'll try to find the post.Well those grubs are quite sorry compared to the ones my dog and I found in that rotten log in the front yard.

http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html

I went out this morning to dig up a few Giant white grubs for a photo op for the LC forum, a sprig of parsley, a couple tomato slices on a plate with some huge fat curled up grubs that would have had visual shock impact. It was cold and foggy this a.m. and I couldn't find any, they just disappeared-- well maybe next year?

[Nancy LC]

Bush tucker is not for me either. I don't know what I'd do. I have a thing with bugs. Spiders I like - but only bc they eat other bugs, so I figure we're on the same team.

I can't imagine what health benefirs urine would have, considering it's something our bodies are getting rid of. He did say it's 95% water? Ugh...I rarely feel sick watching stuff like that, but it really grossed me out to see him whiz in his canteen and then chug it down...and it dripped down his chin!! Augh!!
Sounds like a Gatorade commercial!

Also reminds me of a Blackadder episode...

[BBQman]

From the NatGeo link on the first page, it states this in the article:

Hamburger, for example, is roughly 18 percent protein and 18 percent fat. Cooked grasshopper, meanwhile, contains up to 60 percent protein with just 6 percent fat. Moreover, like fish, insect fatty acids are unsaturated and thus healthier.

Does that mean hamburger is 64% carbohydrate?

[kallyn]

I think it probably means by weight, so the bulk of the rest would be water.

[glendarc]

<<<crossing dates off the menu along with cream cheese>>> :lol:

Actually I love crispy fried soft shelled crabs. Can bugs be that different?? All in our perceptions I suppose.

Dates were off my menu anyway - too sweet, but now cream cheese will probably gross me out too!! DAMN!!!!!

Didn't Alton Brown call lobsters bugs? I think, IIRC that he said they were like cockroaches? I guess it's a matter of perception - big, cooked and red is good; smaller, raw and black (and crawling on a dirty floor) is NOT good!!

Obviously, I have a huge yeuchhhh factor to overcome!!!!

[frankly]

...Didn't Alton Brown call lobsters bugs? I think, IIRC that he said they were like cockroaches? I guess it's a matter of perception - big, cooked and red is good; smaller, raw and black (and crawling on a dirty floor) is NOT good!!


I've heard it before as well, I couldn't recall the original source and just googled into this (http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/cockroach_faq.html#Q11) from the cockroach faq:

Q11: Terri Lamb asks: I was told that lobsters are the "roaches of the sea". Therefore, I was under the impression that roaches are crustaceans. Is this at all true? And if it is not true, what is the relationship between a roach and a lobster?

A: Terri,
As both a lobster and roach lover I can give you a reasonably authoritative answer. If you go to the Tree of Life WWW page at the level Arthropod (Phylum), you will see that cockroaches are insects (Class Hexapoda) and lobsters are decapod crustaceans (Class Crustacea); they are two groups in the same phylum, URL:

Tree of Life (at Arthropoda level)

You can move up the tree to see how arthropods are related to other animals.

Beyond classification which should reflect the lobster and cockroach evolutionary relationship, the term 'roaches of the sea' reflects the behavior of lobsters as omnivorous scavengers. Cockroaches will eat almost anything organic and so will lobsters. They clean up the dead and dying plants and animals in their environment.

So much for the delicious taste of lobster? "

(Actually, the "Tree of Life" link from the above ( http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Arthropoda&contgroup=Bilateria ) is a neat site.

[PilotGal]

lobsters are scavengers. they walk the ocean floor and eat anything that appeals to them.

and just for the record.. a 1.75 lb lobster is approximately 7 yrs old.
the female is sweeter meat.
and you can tell the difference between the two sexes by turning them over and looking for two hard pinchers that are the penis of the lobster.