A co-worker of mine recently tried chocolate-covered ants down in Mexico and commented on how much they taste like Nestle's Crunch. He didn't have the courage to try caramel-coated crickets, though. Anyone have any experience eating insects? I have no desire to try them, but my curiousity has been stirred and I'd love to know what the appeal is.
You eat'em all the time, you just don't know it. Most processed foods contain insect bits. I wouldn't have a problem eating ants though. Crickets look too much like giant roaches.
I have the impression that insects are supposed to be high protein and low fat. I have no idea how they taste. It would seem like the taste of the ants would be overwhelmed by the taste of the chocolate.
Everyone has eaten insects. There is absolutely no way to keep them out of prepared and/or packaged food. I would like to try some insects in a more straight forward manner, however. The next time there's an insect faire around I'll probably go and try some of the delicacies. I did eat a nice squishy green caterpillar when I was just a tiny little demonspawn. As my mother tells it, I had half the caterpillar in my mouth when she tried to get it away from me. She managed to get the remaining half away from me, but not before I sucked out the mushy interior of it.
Insects (and other bugs) are a great source of protein, are highly nutritional, and quite tasty. A few years back, I bought Creepy-Crawly Cuisine and the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook as a gift for my wife as a joke. We got a kick out of reading them, and figured we ought to try at least one of the recipes. We eventually decided just to add some crickets to our stir-fry one night. As we found out, they have a great, almondy flavor. They also added a nice texture to the meal. We've yet to try anything other than crickets and mealworms, but both are very good. The mealworms are best, IMO, when sauteed in garlic and butter. They get quite crunchy and taste like bacon. A great snack is to roast crickets & mealworms, and add them to Chex Mix. Many other cultures include insects as part of their diet. They're high in fiber and protein, and if prepared properly will not cause you any problems. I recommned the two books mentioned above quite highly. They'll give you lots of information, great recipes and pictures, and even some sources from which you can purchase insects.
I think the thing that most makes me say ewwwwwww is the concept of yellowish or greenish body fluids being consumed....
As an experienced motorcyclist, I can personally (In a blind taste test) tell you the differance between blackflies, mosquito-thingies, and bugs I call "Nugents" (similar to chiggers I believe). I heard of a man in Alabama who once accidently ate a sequeda (?). Then it devoured him from the inside. But I can't say for sure, Its a FOAF really.
Not if I can help it, although I did bite into a donut once and found half a bee in it, altogether now... eeewwwwwww! [opens can starts drinking quickly), aaaah! that's better. Where is that 'eeewwwwww!' smiley when you need it?
I have heard from people who have been to survival school in the military, that you can eat just about any bug that has less than 8 legs. I always wanted to tell someone that.
The Montreal Insectarium occasionally invites visitors to attend their "Banquet Day" where all they serve is... BUGS!!! All this talk reminds me of the Monty Python sketch called "Crunchy Frog".
I had chocolate-covered bees and chocolate-covered ants while I was in Reitoca, Honduras. I was surprised at the nutty flavor they gave the confection. It was quite good.
A restaraunt called "Typhoon" in L.A. has a rather varied Asian menu, which includes bugs. The scorpion on shrimp toast is quite good--but the appetizer includes only two little scorpions. I wasn't as impressed with the crickets.
After you roast or sautee them, there aren't any green or yellow juices. They're just crunchy. If you boil them, or don't cook them thoroughly, you'll still get juices.
Years ago, on a trip through Ohio farmland, we saw a sign that advertised "Corn" and "Corn with Meat". Well, the "meat" they were referring to were worms that infested the crop. Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!
Put me in the "gross" camp. I once ate part of a tequila flavored lollipop with a worm inside, but let my father finish it off when I got down to the worm.
Let's see, I've eaten earthworms on a dare as a kid; chocolate covered ants; and nice juicy beetle larvae dug out of rotting tree trunks during a military training exercise. Other than the ants I didn't really care for the mushy texture and certainly wouldn't go out of my way to add insects to my diet -- although those honey-pot ants sure do look interesting
