I know people like to talk about edible insects mainly in terms of environmental outcomes but having tried insects from many cuisines and cultures I think the new world of flavors they come with is underrated. There's a big ick factor for many but if you can get yourself to try it you just might be surprised.
My favorite was freshly prepared (no roasted in a factory long ago) hormigas culonas in Colombia. We tried them rare, medium, and well done with different dishes and the flavors were wonderful but very hard to compare.
I know people who eat a type of ant that stores a sugary liquid. They grow a big belly and just sit still as a food dispenser for the rest of the colony. I would surely try it given the chance.
I've also seen Mexicans eat crickets with pepper. I was more afraid of the pepper than the crickets, so I had to give it a pass.
Myself, I can only claim to have eaten the larvae in guavas (they taste exactly the same as the guava itself).
Sometimes I wonder about the survival of insect cuisines in non-Western countries if the West keeps holding out in its general disgust. Will this cuisine fade in the face of the West’s cultural juggernaut, just as traditional music in so many countries has been marginalized by imported hip-hop, or traditional clothing was replaced by the suit-and-tie or other Western dress? All people need to get is a subconscious message that this is poor-people food and uncool, and then it goes.
Oh, I can see it now — giant, low-gravity-raised cockroaches branded as Heinz Space Lobsters. Everything is fine until the station loses power to the Space Lobster containment facility …
I know people like to talk about edible insects mainly in terms of environmental outcomes but having tried insects from many cuisines and cultures I think the new world of flavors they come with is underrated. There's a big ick factor for many but if you can get yourself to try it you just might be surprised.
My favorite was freshly prepared (no roasted in a factory long ago) hormigas culonas in Colombia. We tried them rare, medium, and well done with different dishes and the flavors were wonderful but very hard to compare.
I know people who eat a type of ant that stores a sugary liquid. They grow a big belly and just sit still as a food dispenser for the rest of the colony. I would surely try it given the chance.
I've also seen Mexicans eat crickets with pepper. I was more afraid of the pepper than the crickets, so I had to give it a pass.
Myself, I can only claim to have eaten the larvae in guavas (they taste exactly the same as the guava itself).
Sometimes I wonder about the survival of insect cuisines in non-Western countries if the West keeps holding out in its general disgust. Will this cuisine fade in the face of the West’s cultural juggernaut, just as traditional music in so many countries has been marginalized by imported hip-hop, or traditional clothing was replaced by the suit-and-tie or other Western dress? All people need to get is a subconscious message that this is poor-people food and uncool, and then it goes.
Oh, I can see it now — giant, low-gravity-raised cockroaches branded as Heinz Space Lobsters. Everything is fine until the station loses power to the Space Lobster containment facility …
Chilean Space Bass.
Good freaking christ. Humans will really do anything not to eat plants, huh?
Plants are living organisms, too.
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