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

There has been speculation that eating bugs is the way of the future. As a supply of meat, they're much more efficient to raise than large mammals. A lot of the larvae that are already unintentionally in food contain high vitamin content.

I've actually never tried eating insects, but after reading a magazine article about it a few days ago I was intrigued and looked it up on wikipedia, and I'm considering getting a cookbook or something and start trying them.

I've tried a couple after some encouraging from a friend who likes this kind of thing.

Certain kinds of moth (I didn't trouble myself to remember specific species) are supposed to be quite a delicacy when baked. We tried some of them, and to be honest they tasted pretty much like what you'd expect a baked moth to taste like - dry, powdery and horrible. He thought they were nice, though, so may be personal taste.

The more successful test was woodlice - we'd heard they were remarkably like small shrimp. So we made a woodlouse risotto and it was actually rather tasty, they do kind of taste like shrimp and are quite pleasant once you get over the concept.

Thanks to the beautiful thing known as the food chain, we're frequently consuming bugs. At least, the remains of bugs.

But no, I would never eat them directly.

I heard that there are bugs in candy bars.

I have no problems with eating bugs, have done so, and will do so again in the future.

-Pufer

I hear it's not so unheard of in other countries (i.e China, Vietnam) and is quite common.

It's not so horrible guys.

I'm sure I have eaten bugs before, and i've heard crickets are delicious.

I've accidentally eaten some whilst walking around a nature reserve or some other such place.

Closest I've come to eating something like that by choice is snails. But that doesn't really count...

I'd argue that if you've ever eaten lobster or shrimp, you've come much closer.

I have no particular interest in eating bugs, and can't easily see myself in a situation where that would change.

Depends. If they look tasty, and smell tasty...


But if they look like nasty.....like something I might've stepped on... D:

No to either. I've eaten scampi though, if that counts

I heard that people eat spiders in their sleep.

And on a side note, if you think bugs are disgusting, look at part of your tongue.

It counts, you damn sea bug eater.

Interestingly, you never hear folks ordering scampi over here as we don't really use that term except to refer to a manner of preparing shrimp. Scampi are either langoustine or prawns (actual prawns being called shrimp in most cases).



I heard that spiders eat people in their sleep.

-Pufer

I had prawns once, not knowing that they're any different than shrimp. I can't say that I liked the flavor much, considering how much more expensive they are than shrimp.

A Place in the north of England I often go on holiday to is famous for it's scampi. SO I often eat lots when we go. It's the only thing that comes out of the sea I enjoy eating.

"You see that black line? That's feces..."

Thank you Dwight K. Schrute!

I would quite like to try bugs, personally. That is more than I can say for prawns, which give me the heebie-jeebies. And honey-roasted crickets has always sounded quite nice.

Prawns aren't very good, anyway. They're not terribly tasty, and I didn't like the texture much. It's kind of a squidy texture.

I like squid.

-Pufer

Crawfish are quite enjoyable when boiled properly. Other than shrimp, crawfish, lobster, and crab I've never had any type of arthropod as food. Chocolate covered crickets and roasted ants could both be quite enjoyable to me if an opportunity to eat them presented itself.

I've never had squid, but I've heard that the texture is kind of like prawns.

Squid texture is unique to cephalopods. If prepared properly, it is quite nice. If it is overcooked or improperly prepared it gains the texture of rubber.

I have eaten bugs before.

DO NOT WANT.

I'd try bugs if the opportunity arose. For me, there's something very cool about eating bizarre foods. The best meat I've ever had is alligator, for instance.

There's something very worthwhile about eating bizarre foods. I really don't want to cut myself out of experiencing something I might really like, so I figure that I should try everything I can.

-Pufer

Try a crocodile burger. Mmmmmmmmmm...

Watch him all the time.

BTW: Traditional stinky tofu, now there's a challenge.

Is that a huhu grub? Because they're supposed to taste of peanut butter.

Zimmern's pretty cool, but I like Bourdain better.

Bordain is better, but Zimmern is more real. Bourdain always has some sort of BS side story going on (like the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas episode), Zimmern just wanders around talking to folks and eating.

-Pufer

Sounds like a great life.

Don't compare. Just enjoy... my favorite is when he visited the island of Mr. Sang. Yeah, he gets a bit corny, but that's just how he rolls.



Is it his physique that gives it away?

Screw not comparing, Bourdain weighs what? 50 pounds? Dude's a scarecrow.

-Pufer

I have a simple response to this.


I couldn't resist.


But yeah you're right give or take an ounce.

Speaking of bugs, what happened to mrxak? Did you lot do something horrid to him in his sleep? Something horrid involving bugs?

We used more than bugs.

-Pufer

By the end, he was praying for us to start using bugs....

It was the salad cream that did it. For those used to fresh mayonnaise, salad cream is a truly scarring experience.

Those screams will haunt me for a long time...

I've eaten bugs before and it was surprisingly unremarkable. I wouldn't do it again. It was meh.

Uh, for some reason, in 3rd grade, we were all fed grasshoppers. Or maybe they were crickets. It was not very pleasant.

I know worms aren't bugs, but in the topic of my school feeding us various strange things en masse, in 4th grade everyone ate worms. I was to eat worms as well, but for some reason my class wasn't able to do it. I don't really remember the reason.

Looking back at my childhood, I find many things rather odd.

mrxak, where did you go to school?
I suppose I would eat bugs if I was required to for sustenance, but I would rather live off of other food right now.

In 3rd grade, it was part of our bug unit. We had a school play and dressed up like bugs and everything. I think I was a spider.

In 4th grade it was one of the 4 science units we had that year. The others were basic basic chemistry, bone anatomy, and geology.