Eating bugs.

[Yasυ]

Has Meat Met Its Match? | IFLScience

 

So I stumbled across this article a while ago and I was sincerely baffled at the amount of negative attention it got, on the grounds that it was 'gross', 'digusting', or outright 'hippie s***', as if people were unaware of the concept of acquired taste, haha.

 

What do you think YCM, are you up to eating some bugs - for ecology's sake?

[ihop]

Depends how tasty they are

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

The answer is a definite no for health reasons and other things. 

[Tentacruel]

 'gross', 'digusting', or outright 'hippie s***', 

Yup, that's pretty much exactly how I feel. 

[Instinct]

I've tried escargot if that counts. It was actually pretty good.

[Sander]

The answer is a definite no for health reasons and other things. 

 

What "health" reasons are you talking about?

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Pretty much for the fact that I have no idea where said bugs have been.

For all I know, they might've been running around in some garbage heap or something. 

 

While yeah, they might be cooked, I just don't find it appetizing at all.

(Probably for the reasons that I've been told not to eat bugs when I was younger)

[Sander]

Pretty much for the fact that I have no idea where said bugs have been.

For all I know, they might've been running around in some garbage heap or something. 

 

Them being near a garbage heap doesn't matter at all when they're obviously cooked / fried well enough to actually have the heat remove anything harmful from the insects.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Them being near a garbage heap doesn't matter at all when they're obviously cooked / fried well enough to actually have the heat remove anything harmful from the insects.

It's quite difficult to change someone's view of something, especially a food, when that person has already seen it as disgusting. Like me for instance. I've come across numerous insect foods in various forms, but both for religious and personal reasons, I choose not to eat it. I've heard they taste really good and is a good source of protein, but it doesn't matter because I already find it as disgusting and unappealing.

[Ire]

[spoiler=when I thought we were speaking about insects] 

I've tried escargot if that counts. It was actually pretty good.

 

 

 

 

Wikipedia says :

 

 

Insects have six legs; and most have wings. Insects were the first animals capable of flight.

 

 

I think it does not count....

 

 

 

OT : Food is food...

[Yasυ]

Pretty much for the fact that I have no idea where said bugs have been.

For all I know, they might've been running around in some garbage heap or something.

 

Wouldn't be an issue if insect faming was a thing, supposedly it would be more sustainable too.

 

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I tried some caramelized grasshoppers as a kid, but the whole idea doesn't seem too weird to me.

[Thalarctos Maritimus]

I had escargot when i was 6 or 5 but i didn't know i was eating it,when i had finished eating thats when she told me

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I have no reason to eat bugs over any other food. Maybe it's selfish if it's actually better for the rest of the world but even so. I guess if I had to I would but there's plenty of others I'd rather eat and as long as that's there then I'll pass.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Geez, grasshopper is seriously tasty, and pretty healthy too as far as I'm aware.

 

It's really more about how the buggers look rather than anything else.

[.Rai]

The answer is a definite no for health reasons and other things.

For health reasons, it's arguably a definite yes.

 

In a mainstream sense, any insects you find for sale are likely to be farmed, and hence hygeinic that way, or cooked, and frankly perfectly edible that way. Your work surfaces are probably dirtier.

 

Edit: Also, snails aren't insects, guys.

 

Edit 2: It's also worth noting that everybody probably consumes insects on a regular basis. Anything coloured with carmine (i.e. red food dye) has crushed up cochineal in it. If you're not, you may instead be using mouthwash with it in as well. The squeamishness towards bugs is fine, but it's silly not to recognise it as anything but irrational.

[Catman25]

my chem teacher offered extra credit for eating crickets; it was like a 90/10 chocolate to cricket ratio though, a no brainer

[Sethera]

I'm not averse to eating insects. I've heard of people out in the desert and other places that have to do things like that to survive and such, and if they can do it, then why not?

Not sure how they'd taste, but I've heard good things about chocolate grasshoppers/crickets. Though, since I've always preferred pasta/fruits/milk products over meat anyway, not sure I'd be eating much of them, but yeah.

I do eventually want to try eating grasshoppers, but there aren't any places in my area that serve that stuff. :/ Maybe at a fair?

[The Amazing Avian]

I am currently eating a grasshopper.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

When you're starving, you don't have a 5 star restaurant to choose from. There are two options. Yourself, or lower class animals. Preferably you have a fire, but you have to make do sometimes

[Shradow]

I'll eat anything, I just haven't been to a restaurant that serves insect-based food or picked any up in my local grocery store.

[Zauls]

I have a serious phobia of insects and such. Spiders are the worst, but I know they are eaten quite frequently in some cultures. I just couldn't bring myself to eat something I am terrified of. Yes, I know its completely irrational and if other people enjoy eating insects, that's cool.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

I have a serious phobia of insects and such. Spiders are the worst, but I know they are eaten quite frequently in some cultures. I just couldn't bring myself to eat something I am terrified of. Yes, I know its completely irrational and if other people enjoy eating insects, that's cool.

It's not about enjoying it. You are sometimes put in a situation where you either have eat insects or start eating your extremities. Make your choice

[ihop]

Unless you find yourself in a jungle miles from civilisation that's probably not a choice anyone's going to make. This is just a possible alternative to meat, not a bush tucker trial, nobody's being forced to eat insects.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

In some parts of the world it's actually encouraged to eat insects. I can't remember if it was Anthony Bourdain or not (I'm about 95% sure it was Anthony Bourdain) but I remember watching an episode where he went to some small town in India (again, can't remember the exact specifics). Their diet there consisted mostly of these bugs that were cooked in a spicy sauce to preserve their integrity, while also drowning them in flavor. You wouldn't think it but when Anthony Bourdain tried one he was absolutely astonished.

 

Then his adventure took him to another place somewhere in India where they did nothing with their bugs. A local bugman would catch them and net them, give them to a local chef who would just sprinkle some pepper and other spices on the bug and let all hell loose. As you might expect, Anthony didn't like it.

 

So it's not really a matter of "are you eating bugs" as opposed to "are you eating something delicious that just has an ingredient that you normally don't expect to have in it".

[epicmemesbro]

Eating insects is a cultural thing. What one part of the planet finds disgusting the other finds normal. For example Thai folk eat insects but hate cheese (which is pretty much rotten milk).