I’ve tried bugs. Cricket jambalaya is fine. Just like regular jambalaya, but with some crunchy bits. Yeah, it took an effort of will to chew and swallow that first bite, but then I realized the crickets don’t taste like much of anything. Just added protein. Practical.
I couldn’t quite make the effort of will to eat the crunchy fried mealworms also on offer – but I regret that and think I was being a bit silly. If I get another chance, I’ll definitely try them.
It just dawned on me I’ve been skipping over the “packaging cricket protein bars” post all day but then decided to comment on this one. Now I need to think about what that says about the packaging being innocuous enough that it flew just beneath my radar, and this post grabbing me because I felt insulted as an “American” that I somehow needed to be sold on the idea of eating crickets. Thanks BoingBoing…
Bugs are what you eat when you can’t get hold of any other food in the universe. At least, that’s been my general operating principle since childhood. So far, I haven’t been backed into that corner.
“Lard rations” is not on the google.
I appreciate the benefits of what your doing but I just wouldn’t be able to bring myself to eat it. Especially when their only 50% less than potato chips. If they were 99% less and lowered cholesterol or something…
I probably still wouldn’t…
The fact that I’m “tasting” cricket… shudder
And yet I’d bet money that none of you would turn down a tasty shrimp.
How is this less gross than a cricket?
Yup. That’s how I got talked into eating chocolate covered ants. Except for the odd shapes, not too different than rice krispies smothered in chocolate.
Something like bug tacos will take more than “delicious” to win me over (some deep seated cultural food issues at play for me). Maybe a magic brownie appetizer would be in order?
But Jiminy!
OK. Let’s not get sentimental. Just needs good branding to sell to Americans.
Buy Jiminy!
You have probably already eaten food made with bugs.
I’m a vegetarian, so I get to say that I don’t eat bugs on principle (though I will squash bugs, but really, it’s not just that bugs are gross.)
If you do want to try eating fried crickets, and you have Mexican restaurants in your area, look for a Oaxacan place and ask if they have chapulines, which are fried crickets. Your local health code may vary as to whether they’re allowed to sell them, and I don’t know if there are regions other than Oaxaca that eat them (most of the Mexican restaurants around here are from central or northwestern Mexico, but I’ve only seen them on the menu in a few Oaxacan places. Oaxacan cooking also does a lot with mole sauces, tends to use black beans, and the fried corn breads are thicker and in different shapes than the more common tortillas and tamales.
My wife tried them once, wasn’t impressed.
I don’t think most Americans want their heads to get phasered and explode, though. Better to just stick with gagh, which is somehow more socially acceptable.
I hope that most of you realize that the ickyness you feel is the same Muslims feel regarding pork or Hindus regarding beef.
That strikes me as a poor comparison. Even if it were true, why is that important?
I’m Indian and a vegetarian from birth, with access to the richest vegetarian cuisine in the world, so YES, that shrimp grosses me out as do anything other than plants where food is concerned! If you’ve considered turning vegetarian and are put off by the prospect of bland boiled vegetables, look for Indian vegetarian recipes, you’ll have plenty to keep you from missing the meat/poultry/seafood diet!
I’d give the cricket flour a try. I’ve seen whole crickets sold as novelties in ranch and bbq flavor but they looked like they’d get caught in my throat so I didn’t try them. Ground up though, it can’t be any worse than other mechanically processed food sourced from an animal. Lots of people willingly eat Spam. Is cricket meal baked into a brownie really that much worse than Spam?
For the same reason this isn’t a free self-serve soup-dispensing station:
Gah! Too many legs. Not food! Not food!
It’s not flour – it’s powder. Powder made from crickets.
Flour is a specific type of powder obtained by grinding grain, typically wheat, and used to make bread, cakes, and pastry.
Soy milk is the same – it’s not milk, it’s soy juice. There’s nothing wrong with soy juice, it’s just misleading to call it milk. Milk is an animal product.
Aren’t there supposed to be rules on misleading labels and ingredients in food?
