Have you ever eaten a bug?

[cubinator]

Since I'm just beginning to farm insects in my home, I am curious about the stories of any other KSP forum members who have eaten insects. It's extremely uncommon in my part of the world to do so, but I'm sure many of you have heard of the environmental and nutritional positives of humans eating more insects. Not to mention the idea of insects being a staple food of Mars in the future due to their low resource consumption and ease to farm, something that my project right now is helping make a reality by quantifying that resource consumption and describing the work that goes into the farm.

So, have you eaten bugs? Tell me about it!

Spoiler

Here's a photo of the crickets I prepared on Friday, I froze them to kill them painlessly, then dried them in the oven, then put some oregano and olive oil on them to experiment (after trying a few plain ones).

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by cubinator

[James Kerman]

Yes I have tried insects while travelling overseas - deep fried crickets and ants that were dusted in spices that tasted crunchy and spicy and okay to my western palate. I forgot to add mealworms to my vote as I have tried native Australian Witchetty grub that was a food staple of the original inhabitants here for thousands of years. They have kind of a nutty/woody taste.

[XB-70A]

Yup, two times precisely.

Once as a really young kid as I found the "green juice" from Empyreuma pugione caterpillars somewhat attracting.

It turned out to be bitter and absolutely disgusting.

However, following a bet I've lost, I tried some fried spiders in a Thai restaurant, and... they were pretty good!

[cubinator]

5 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

They have kind of a nutty/woody taste.

It's quite interesting to see all the different flavors that can be found in insects that we just don't normally get from other foods. For instance, you never just chew on a piece of wood, but you can get the flavor of it from an insect that ate it. The most interesting taste I've encountered was that of the giant water bug, which had a spicy taste like watercress, an aquatic plant.

It's interesting that they have the taste of their habitat. I've heard that cockroaches have a woody flavor as well, I might start keeping them at some point too.

[razark]

Knowingly?  On purpose?

No.

 

I'm not exactly opposed to the idea, but there's that part of my brain screaming that it just ain't right!

[cubinator]

Just now, razark said:

Knowingly?  On purpose?

No.

 

I'm not exactly opposed to the idea, but there's that part of my brain screaming that it just ain't right!

Maybe you'd be more inclined to try chips or cookies made from insect-based flour, or if all else fails, red food coloring.

[razark]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

Maybe you'd be more inclined to try chips or cookies made from insect-based flour, or if all else fails, red food coloring.

If you don't make me think about it...

 

And yet, I'm perfectly fine with eating lobster, crab, crawfish, and shrimp.  99% of it is probably just a cultural thing.

But:

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

I've heard that cockroaches have a woody flavor as well, I might start keeping them at some point too.

Yeah, that's not happening for me.

 

Edit:

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

For instance, you never just chew on a piece of wood, but you can get the flavor of it from an insect that ate it.

I'm happy to stick to getting my wood flavor from the barrels my bourbon is aged in.

Edited July 6, 2020 by razark

[StrandedonEarth]

I voted no, but I should qualify that with “Not that I’m aware of. “ And being an historically picky eater, I doubt I could convince myself to eat one, unless literally starving. But there is a company in my province that is developing cricket-based protein bars, which I could see myself trying. 
https://bitesnacks.com/pages/about-us

[Kerbart]

Doing endurance training on my scooter board, going 20 mph (which is quite the decent speed on a scooter board) and catching a big fly in the back of your dried out throat. At that point no choice but to swallow it. Happened on multiple occasions. Good times.

[tater]

29 minutes ago, cubinator said:

It's quite interesting to see all the different flavors that can be found in insects that we just don't normally get from other foods. For instance, you never just chew on a piece of wood, but you can get the flavor of it from an insect that ate it. The most interesting taste I've encountered was that of the giant water bug, which had a spicy taste like watercress, an aquatic plant.

My friend who lived in Thailand (Thai wife) made a chile paste with those waterbugs that we dipped some dried fish into and ate. He only told people it was waterbug after the chile sauce taste contest.

I ate a few kinds in Thailand when I was there (just plain old toasted (?) insects as beer food. My wife ordered cricket tacos at a place in DC when she was there for a medical conference. I think I ate some meal worm things, and the obligatory very sterilized "worm" at the bottom of a bottle.

[StrandedonEarth]

3 minutes ago, tater said:

and the obligatory very sterilized "worm" at the bottom of a bottle

On that note... (sorry for getting off topic)

https://www.cbc.ca/shortdocs/m/blog/the-story-of-the-sourtoe-cocktail-a-shot-of-whiskey-garnished-with-a-human

[tater]

Pretty sure my single malts have no toes.

[VoidCosmos]

Yuck! 

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

Since I'm just beginning to farm insects in my home, I am curious about the stories of any other KSP forum members who have eaten insects. It's extremely uncommon in my part of the world to do so, but I'm sure many of you have heard of the environmental and nutritional positives of humans eating more insects.

Several years ago relatives had gifted to @cubinator a non-poisonous scorpion instead of a golden fish.

And see, where it ends...

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

It's interesting that they have the taste of their habitat. I've heard that cockroaches have a woody flavor as well, I might start keeping them at some point too.

Try spreading cognac on their litter, if it's safe for them.
Or maybe you can herd shield bugs between the crickets and from time to time smash them.

2 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Doing endurance training on my scooter board, going 20 mph (which is quite the decent speed on a scooter board) and catching a big fly in the back of your dried out throat. At that point no choice but to swallow it. Happened on multiple occasions.

I see, why you keep scooting...

2 hours ago, tater said:

cricket tacos

At 120 mph of bike speed they also cook cricket nachos.

3 hours ago, razark said:

And yet, I'm perfectly fine with eating lobster, crab, crawfish, and shrimp.  99% of it is probably just a cultural thing.

Crustacea are rarely poisonous, unlike other arthropods who mostly are.

(Maybe because they live in water, while the land dwellers have to save it and are full of metabolic crap.
Even if an insect lives in water, it's a descendant of a land form, who had become crapped and poisonous before return to the water).

P.S.
Is the bug catching by scooter or bike a hunting or a gathering?

Edited July 6, 2020 by kerbiloid

[cubinator]

8 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Crustacea are rarely poisonous, unlike other arthropods who mostly are.

That's not really true, at least in terms of diversity. For the sake of answering the question, I'll answer for both 'poisonous' and 'venomous' since there are cases of both.

Poisonous arthropods:
There really aren't many poisonous arthropods. You have a number of lepidopteran species (including the bitter caterpillar XB-70A experienced up-thread) which usually have bright warning colors - Consider the monarch butterfly, which has a bad taste. However, its mimic, the viceroy butterfly, is not poisonous. You also have a few stink bugs (many of which are eaten anyway), and I think there might be one or two kinds of millipedes that are not good to eat. I can't think of any poisonous spiders or arachnids, and of course we have no data on the trilobites- they're probably a lot like the crustaceans. Overall, you can pick up just about any arthropod off the Earth that's not bright orange and it'll be good to eat, provided it hasn't inadvertently chewed on some human-placed herbicide or pesticide, which are poisonous to humans. Ants, beetles, cockroaches, cicadas, bees, termites, even spiders, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions...They're all pretty much safe to eat.

Venomous arthropods:
There are a lot of venomous arthropods, but even still, most of them aren't. The largest order of described animal species are Coleoptera - the beetles, none of which can hurt a person except the few which can produce a big enough bite. The largest group of animals by number are the ants, some of which have stingers, but they are safe to cook and eat anyway. Some ants have bodies full not of venom, but of delicious nectar! It's theorized by some that there is at least one wasp species for every other species of insect, which would make wasps the most diverse animal order. These wasps are venomous, but can be eaten anyway, as they can't sting you from the frying pan. Bees and honey go hand in hand, and suffice to say that you can have both. There are no venomous millipedes. Their counterparts the centipedes are venomous, but again can be prepared easily. A lot of spiders are venomous, but cook them up and you won't even know it. Scorpions are fine too. Trilobites probably weren't venomous either. No butterflies, dragonflies, fly flies, caddisflies, mantisflies, mantises, or true bugs are venomous. (Ok, maybe a couple fly flies and true bugs are. But they're exceptions and mostly safe to eat anyway!)

Some other arthropods can excrete or spray irritating chemicals, like the stink bugs, the docile vinegaroons, and a couple species of millipede. But they only do these things while alive, and not when they're on your plate.

Overall, arthropods outside of Crustacea are mostly just as safe to eat as your typical crab or shrimp or lobster - Just follow the old rule of not eating anything unknown that's brightly colored, and you can cook up almost any bug or spider or millipede!

[kerbiloid]

I would still avoid eating something that can't *liquid* easily, as "doesn't make to fall with blue face" doesn't necessary mean "is safe to eat frequently".

It can either accumulate the un*liquid*ed in cells, or accumulate it in glands to use as venom/poison.

Especially from hot countries. Happily, here, to the North from the really hot, the vipers should bite threesome to be dangerous.

Edited July 6, 2020 by kerbiloid

[adsii1970]

Apparently, we eat about two pounds of bugs per year...

https://theunconventionalroute.com/how-many-bugs-eat-in-year/#:~:text=If you google%2C “How many bugs do we,for the average American. How can this be%3F

[kerbiloid]

Maybe the author should from time to time broom/vacuumize his lair, wash the fruits before eating, and try to close the mouth when he's asleep?

Spoiler

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by kerbiloid

[p1t1o]

I had some of those chocolate covered giant ants. 

They werent very nice. Not in a gross way, just it was like eating a small ball of those shards of popcorn-kernel-skin that get stuck in your teeth, that tasted like soil.

 

 

[Shpaget]

Recently, a supermarket offered several insect based foods, but it was quickly pulled off the shelves, since apparently in EU that stuff is not legal.

So, I had the opportunity to go and buy some, but had absolutely no desire to do so.

Lobster, shrimp etc, on the other hand, I'll have seconds, so I suppose it's cultural thing, just like I wouldn't pick just any and every mammal as my preferred food.

[kerbiloid]

As I said in another thread, before eating insects I should first know, why are the Chinese peasants (who are definitely used to such snacks) still herding pigs and chickens, instead of the more efficient bugs.

Edited July 9, 2020 by kerbiloid

[Nuke]

one day we had my sister and her family over. everyone had the munchies but there was no snackfood in the house. so we went blueberry picking. wild blueberries always have grubs as insects like to lay their eggs in the blossoms that become berries. to get them out you need to soak them in brine overnight. we used seawater, as the berry bushes were near the beach. the larvae lose their oxygen supply and quickly burrow their way out of the berry, almost immediately they start floating to the surface. im not certain the role the salt plays, as i just picked this up from the folk wisdom of other berry pickers. its not 100% foolproof as a dead grub cannot extricate itself from the berry. if they drown or died prior to processing they stay put and some species of larva can live without oxygen for long periods of time and try to wait it out. i think farmed blueberries have the same problem as you can find grub boreholes on store bought berries. 

everyone wanted me to make some blueberry muffins, so after only four hours in the brine we skimmed the grubs and rinsed the berries and used some of them in the muffins. i made like 2 dozen or so muffins. some of them came out a little dry and my sister decided she would make a blueberry frosting. upon applying the blender to some berries and dumping them into a mixing bowl, we saw grubs everywhere. by that time everyone had eaten at least one muffin, i ate 2. thing is by the end of the day there were no muffins left, i even went back for a couple more myself. they tasted like any other blueberry muffin. this tends to make one wonder whether thats because all the other muffins have grubs too, and that a grubless muffin might actually not be as good. 

we also had a problem with pantry weevils. they seem to hate bay leaves and that has done a lot to suppress them. the weevils seemed to be coming from the food itself, as there were no pantry beetles as you would find if you had an infestation. factories might be able to sift out the weevils they have, but the eggs remain, and if you let things like noodles and flour sit in your pantry for too long, the eggs hatch and soon they are everywhere. so its all a matter of avoiding cross contamination between foodstuffs, we moved everything to tins. we also put drystuffs in the freezer for a couple days before putting them in their designated containers, with the hopes of killing the eggs. keeps them more or less at bay. this is another case where the gross out factor far exceeds their impact on human health and the flavor of food. 

its ok though as the fda has strict regulations regarding the insect content (as well as rodent droppings, this is why housecats are a thing) of your foods. keep in mind these thresholds of acceptability are non-zero.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Nuke

[Shpaget]

3 hours ago, Nuke said:

wild blueberries always have grubs as insects like to lay their eggs in the blossoms that become berries

We don't talk about bugs in berries.

We don't think about bugs in berries.

There are no bugs in berries.

There have never been bugs in berries.

mkay?

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, Shpaget said:

We don't talk about bugs in berries.

We don't think about bugs in berries.

There are no bugs in berries.

There have never been bugs in berries.

mkay?

think of it this way, they are blueberry flavored grubs. 

im more grossed out by the hotdog episode of how its made. 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Nuke

[razark]

9 hours ago, Nuke said:

we also had a problem with pantry weevils.

I've had that before.  Or something like it.  Not sure exactly what sort of insect was involved.

There was one time when the wife had made dinner, and while I was cleaning up afterwards, I noticed that some of the rice in the container was crawling around...

Edited July 10, 2020 by razark