Posted by Erin Zimmer, April 24, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Jose Andres features grasshopper tacos on his menu at Oyamel in Washington, D.C., but could he do better? C'mon, where's the Thai curry crickets or toffee scorpion candy? Both are available at the British online store Edible, which brings a whole new meaning to entomophagy, or the practice of eating bugs. (Yes there's a word for that!) The best chewable critter available here has to be the toasted leaf cutter ants. The socially-advanced insects have always intrigued me, as they lug grass blades and march like soldiers, fearlessly forming lines of defense through forests and busy streets. But who knew they had a bacony flavor and could make a great alternative to olives? [Via Thrillist]
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM
©iStockPhoto.com/arlindo71
Dutch entomology professor Arnold van Huis wants you to eat bugs. From an interview with Ode magazine:
Why should we eat insects? While the world population is growing and our global wealth is advancing, meat consumption is rising dramatically. Currently, 70 percent of farmland is being used for meat production. If this trend continues, it will prove unsustainable. Moreover, livestock is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, including methane and nitrous oxide. Insects have a much lower environmental burden, while their nutritional value measures up to chicken or beef.
Van Huis concedes that bugs can take some getting used to but that they can be processed in ways that make them less recognizable, "just as a filet doesn't resemble any particular animal."
And hey: The interview comes complete with recipes. Banana Worm Bread, Mealworm Fried Rice, Rootworm Beetle Dip, and, my favorite, Ant Brood Tacos.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 17, 2008 at 4:30 PM
The case for eating insects:
Generally speaking, insects are high in protein and essential fatty acids and low in cholesterol.... A 2004 U.N. report promoted insects as an environmentally friendly food source: low impact, consuming very little in the way of feed, easy to harvest, with no special measures required for their husbandry. ... Insects are arthropods, like lobster, crab and shrimp. They are plentiful, and account for over half of the known species on the planet. We spend billions of pounds trying to control or eradicate them, when we could just be eating them. So why don't we?
