Eating Insects ---hint----you're already eating some.......

[loosechickens]

And you guys laughed long ago when I talked about how good grasshoppers fried in garlic and oil were, when we lived in a small fishing village in Mexico.....

a really interesting article here, from the Wall Street Journal.....

I especially liked the part where, at least inadvertently, we're already eating the little critters, or at least parts of them.....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106072340020728.html?m od=googlenews_wsj

:D

[JaneV2.0]

I look at lots of comestibles--crayfish, lobster, shrimp--and see insects. It's all in what you're used to. I have a pretty limited palette of protein sources, I must admit, and I'd prefer to eat my insect parts incognito.

ETA: Speaking of "inexpensive protein snacks..."

[Miss Cellane]

Way back in junior high, in the 1960s, we learned all about how the government keeps our food safe. One of the things we learned was that the government keeps a sharp eye on the number of insect parts in canned soup, if I recall correctly. I've used that little fact to freak out a lot of people since then.

I know people eat insects. But I don't know if I could bring myself to eat one.

[creaker]

The government has documents (http://www.fda.gov/food/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/guidancedocuments/sanitation/ucm056174.htm) on the allowable "filth" (read mold, insects, rodent hair, feces, etc.) levels in various foods. A lot of it is pretty disgusting.

[Brian]

I sent this article to a associate who hangs in Thailand this time of year just this morning... mentioning yield from feed ratio was not that much higher than chicken BUT Monsanto had not had time to work on super roaster locusts yet, :)

[loosechickens]

yeah....JaneV is right....it's all in what you're used to.....the first person who tried that huge sea insect, the shrimp, for dinner, was a brave (or hungry) sort.

insects you're used to are "tasty", like shrimp and lobster....others, not so much.

we have a friend who worked in the Achuar Indian part of Ecuador, and learned to eat several tasty kinds of grubs, and not only eat them, but LOVE them. One kind was steamed in banana leaves and the other, when encountered in the rain forest, the "eating etiquette" was to bite its head off, spit that part out, then eat the rest. She says those were truly wonderful food. So go figure.

I've gotta tell you, those crispy grasshoppers, fried in oil and garlic, then salted, were pretty darned good, when we lived in a little village on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Good enough to have both of us out in the garden before 7 a.m. while the dew was still on, making their wings a bit heavier, so they couldn't hop so fast, to gather them ourselves.......

Remember, to some cultures, the fact that we would drink a substance squeezed out of the mammary glands of some mammals (not our own species) seems disgusting in the extreme, too. It truly IS what you are accustomed to considering to be "food".

[Crystal]

I remember a little Oaxacan restaurant in Southern Calif. that had a handy dish of roasted ****roach-like things sitting next to the line where you waited to get in. Ummm, no.

[loosechickens]

those were probably chapulinas, Crystal....very common in Oaxacan households and restaurants.......what are chapulinas? Yep....ya got it.....roasted, salty grasshoppers......very, very yummy....you really missed a great eating experience. One crispy, salty, garlicky grasshopper and you're hooked on that unique nutty, crunchy taste. You really CAN'T just "eat one".......

We spent months in the city of Oaxaca, and lived for two years down on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca.....one of our favorite places in all the world......and those grasshoppers were certainly part of the wonderful memories of our time there.

You should have tried a few....... ;-)

[iris lily]

I could see liking grubs if they were properly prepared. Same for grasshoppers. But anything looking remotely like a roach would NOT be entering my mouth voluntarily, though of course I'm eating roach parts regualarly in prepared foods, I'm sure.

[Mrs-M]

And to think (as a kid) I actually believed that modern-day mechanized food production and preparation methods were so advanced and efficient, that all things foreign wouldn't stand a chance getting past all the technology! LMAO!!! Note to self: DO NOT READ ANY OF THE LINKS POSTED IN THIS THREAD.

[iris lily]

please, ANYTHING fried in garlic and a good oil will taste good. Sure, I'd eat 'em.

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Iris Lily.
But anything looking remotely like a roach would NOT be entering my mouth voluntarilyEven if they were fried in garlic with a good oil? :laff:

[Gregg]

I love chapulinas. Think I would draw the line at roaches regardless of preparation method (but probably not regardless of hunger in a pinch). Being a lifelong motorcyclist I have involuntarily ingested numerous small critters and can say first hand that they are much better with salt, garlic and copious amounts of cold cerveza.