
University of Florida student Donna Shin gets ready to taste fudge topped with toasted
crickets and mealworms (AP).
crickets and mealworms (AP).
Scientists Say, ‘Eat More Bugs’
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Scientists are extolling the health and environmental benefits of eating insects, and the practice is gaining wider acceptance. But most Americans aren’t lining up for bug recipes.
30-Second Summary
Many people find insects disgusting or unsanitary. But their consumption is not unusual outside of the industrialized world, where some bug dishes are considered a delicacy.
Boiled, fried, roasted, sautéed or raw, 1,700 species of bug are eaten in at least 113 countries across the globe, according to statistics reported earlier this year in Britain’s Telegraph. Japanese restaurants serve boiled wasp larvae, Nigerians eat roast termites, and in Australia, Aborigines eat bogong moths, whitchetty grubs and the honeybag bee.
Scientists praise insects as a good source of protein, and some are pushing the critters as a solution to global issues such as climate change and the food crisis.
Mexican scientists say that bug consumption could “contribute to sustainable development” because their cultivation requires the preservation of forests, also reducing consumption of meat, reported the Telegraph.
In February 2008, a United Nations conference discussed insect-eating trends, and the recently published the Eat-a-bug Cookbook, apparently in hopes to popularize the trend.
U.N. conference organizer Patrick B. Durst admits, “We’re not going to convince Europeans and Americans to go out in big numbers and start eating insects,” but says he hopes entomophagy can improve health and environmental quality elsewhere.
David Gracer, a college writing instructor and spare-time bug-eating advocate, says he doesn’t understand why people are squeamish when it comes to insects.
“Most of these people are happy to eat crab, lobster and shrimp—the ocean equivalent of insects,” says Gracer.
Boiled, fried, roasted, sautéed or raw, 1,700 species of bug are eaten in at least 113 countries across the globe, according to statistics reported earlier this year in Britain’s Telegraph. Japanese restaurants serve boiled wasp larvae, Nigerians eat roast termites, and in Australia, Aborigines eat bogong moths, whitchetty grubs and the honeybag bee.
Scientists praise insects as a good source of protein, and some are pushing the critters as a solution to global issues such as climate change and the food crisis.
Mexican scientists say that bug consumption could “contribute to sustainable development” because their cultivation requires the preservation of forests, also reducing consumption of meat, reported the Telegraph.
In February 2008, a United Nations conference discussed insect-eating trends, and the recently published the Eat-a-bug Cookbook, apparently in hopes to popularize the trend.
U.N. conference organizer Patrick B. Durst admits, “We’re not going to convince Europeans and Americans to go out in big numbers and start eating insects,” but says he hopes entomophagy can improve health and environmental quality elsewhere.
David Gracer, a college writing instructor and spare-time bug-eating advocate, says he doesn’t understand why people are squeamish when it comes to insects.
“Most of these people are happy to eat crab, lobster and shrimp—the ocean equivalent of insects,” says Gracer.
Headline Links: ‘Insects (The original white meat)’
ScienceNews points out that whether people like it or not, they already have a bit of bug in their diets. The Food and Drug Administration allows up to a certain amount of insect fragments to inadvertently enter food production, such as up to 60 in a composite of six 100-gram chocolate samples, and up to 30 per 100 grams of peanut butter. The article reviews insect-eating traditions and current research into using insect protein to solve world food needs. Researchers hope that Westerners may become more accepting of the food source “if they ‘don’t have to look the bug in the eye as they’re eating it.’”
Source: ScienceNews
The New York Times magazine interviews David Gracer, a writing teacher at the Community College of Rhode Island, who gives lectures and demonstrations on how to cook bugs. “By night, he stalks America’s elite chefs with an electric wok and Tupperware stuffed with six-legged critters in an attempt to convince them that consuming insects is both pleasing to the palate and good for the planet.”
Source: The New York Times
Opinion & Analysis: ‘Why Not Eat Insects?’
“Well, I do. Not all the time, of course, but sometimes, when the opportunity is at hand,” says writer Ian Frazier about his bug-eating proclivities. “And I don’t think of them as bugs, but as whatever specific kind of insect they happen to be. My friend Don and I are the only people I know of who have eaten insects until we were full.”
Source: Outside Online
Adam Edwards points out that English entomologist Vincent M. Holt advocated eating bugs more than 120 years ago. His book titled “Why Not Eat Insects?” contained an overview of people who have feasted on bugs throughout history, and argued that English peasants should supplement their diets with the creatures.
Source: The Telegraph
Reference: Bug Eating Society, ‘land shrimp,’ cookbook
The Bay Area Bug Eating Society, formed in 1999, has available helpful resources such as links to recipes, an FAQ on bug eating, and bug eating stories and pictures.
Source: The Bay Area Bug Eating Society
“Mmm. That’s good Land Shrimp!” is the motto of Sunrise Land Shrimp, which was formed in 2005 to promote eating insects “as a part of a healthy, sustainable diet.”
Source: Sunrise Land Shrimp
“Eat-a-bug Cookbook: 33 ways to cook grasshoppers, ants, water bugs, spiders, centipedes, and their kin” is available on Amazon.
Source: Amazon.com
The entomology department at Iowa State University has a plethora of bug-infested recipes available, including: bug blox, banana worm bread, rootworm beetle dip, chocolate chirpie chip cookies, crackers and cheese dip with candied crickets, mealworm fried rice, corn borer cornbread muffins and chocolate-covered grasshoppers.
Source: Iowa State University
Video Links: Maggot cheese
Two men demonstrate how to eat the Italian specialty Casu Marzu, also known as maggot cheese.
Source: YouTube
Related Topics: Pest Control
It may be unpleasant to discover that you have an unwanted houseguest, but it’s certainly not uncommon. One little bug scurrying by on your kitchen floor doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got a serious problem. If it looks like an entire multilegged family is moving in, though, you might have an infestation brewing. With the help of the right Web sites, you can protect your home from the damage that insects and other pests can cause.
Source: findingDulcinea

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