Eat a Bug? Really?

The idea of eating bugs for dinner may be repulsive to you. . .in fact, it’s a little icky for us, too! But the fact is that people have been eating insects for tens of thousands of years. And, even today, about 80% of the human population supplements their nourishment with these crunchy little morsels such as beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and ants. Scientists have identified 1700 edible species.

You’ve Been Eating Bugs for Dinner for Years

If you’re really disgusted by the thought of eating insects, it may surprise you to learn that the FDA has a Defect Levels Handbook that lists how many bugs you could be eating every day. Canned fruit juices, for example, are allowed up to 1 maggot per 250 ml and chopped dates are allowed up to 10 whole insects. The list is long and if your stomach is rolling, now – don’t worry, you’ve been eating them for years and it hasn’t really bothered you!

And they might not look like much, but insects actually have a high protein, vitamin, fiber and mineral content that is often comparable to fish or livestock. A six-ounce serving of crickets has 60 percent less saturated fat and twice as much vitamin B-12 than the same amount of ground beef. You don’t have to sell the idea to the people of Madagascar; they eat about 15 different species of insect. And other countries — including Thailand and China — consume vast quantities of bugs.

How Do They Taste?

It is said that termites have a pleasant minty flavor. According to National Geographic, though stink bugs may have a bad odor, they taste like apples. Red agave worms are said to be spicy, and tree worms supposedly taste a bit like pork rind. Chocolate covered caterpillars, anyone?

So you want to eat a bug?

If you’ve read this far and are hungry to read more, here are some sites you may be interested in visiting:

http://edibug.wordpress.com/recipes/ — bug recipes

http://bugsfordinner.blogspot.com/

http://www.foodinsectsnewsletter.org/index.html

Let us know if you’ve ever eaten a bug and also let us know if there are bugs you’d like eliminated! Just give us a call!

Source: IFLScience