If you think you haven?t eaten insects and a few other nasty things...
Here's a link for you. Originally this article was from Fortune, but when I went to link it there, they wanted money so I found an alternative.
All of the insects I've eaten were caught in country settings. Due to various insecticides and pesticides, I wonder about the safety of eating bugs. However, in a pinch...
I've eaten the following:
Grasshoppers - Roasted on a skewer and pan-fried. It's best to pull off their heads so that the stomachs, which are full of nasties, will come out attached. Discard whatever comes out with the head.
Locust - I had these prepared the same way as the grasshoppers.
Crickets - Roasted, Fried, and believe it or not once I had some that were dipped in chocolate. Of course I don't expect that in a survival situation I'll be able to fire up a fondue pot with chocolate in it... LOL
Black Ants - Raw and Boiled
Ant Eggs - Fried
Termites - Raw
Beetle Grubs - I've had these raw, roasted and fried with hot sauce.
Fly Maggots -I've had these boiled and fried. Eating these took the most effort on my part. I realized I have an aversion to it. Go figure... You'd think that these would have been as easy to eat as grubs, but for me they weren't. Really it?s their perceived diet more than their appearance that gets the old gag reflex going for me. I think it's due to the fact that a beetle grub will eat vegetation for the most part (at least this is what can readily be witnessed) and a fly maggot you can find eating its way through anything from poo to roadkill.
Earthworms - I've eaten these raw. I find if you can stomach the earthy taste of spinach, then worms are easy. I know, Earthworms are not an insect...
Bee Larvae - I had these as a hors d' oeuver at a party once... They were served right in a slice of the hive they had been cut from with a honey dip. The bee larvae were barely touched by the guests and yet the Tequila lollypops complete with worm and vodka scorpion lollypops were gone in seconds after hitting the table. LOL
Scorpion ? A few friends and I tried roasted scorpion. The person who cooked them removed the last couple of segments from the tail. I didn?t die, so I guess this worked. However, I?d like to do more reading on scorpions to see if this ensures that they are safe to eat. I admit I was caught up in a ?testosterone? moment. LOL I know these are not insects either.
Various Larvae ? I was in the Yucatan, and it?s a long story... LOL Basically, I saw the locals eating them, I figured It would probably be safe, and I was intrigued. This of course is not the best guideline to live by, but I made it through, and the spiced up larvae weren?t half bad.
Insects I haven?t tried:
Bees and Wasps - I?ve read that the only safe way to eat adult bees and wasps is crushed and cooked. I don?t know how safe this is. In training I was told if it stings I shouldn?t eat it, but then again I?ve had scorpion before, so...
Spiders ? There?s a lot of meat on some of those crawlers, but I don?t know which might be safe due to venoms and other poisons. I?ll have to read up on this. I know... Arachnids, not insects... LOL
Caterpillars ? I?ve heard, ?The ones that aren?t fuzzy can be eaten?, but I?d really like to study this more before using that as a guide. At times, simple rule-of-thumb info can be BS, especially when the person giving you the information barely has an opposable thumb to begin with. (This of course is a comment directed at the person who related this particular gem to me. He was a world class BS artist and someone who, I am sure, will get himself nominated for a Darwin Award in the not too distant future.) LOL
Moths and Moth Larvae ? I have no experience with eating them whatsoever.
I?ve tried more, but these are just a few off the top of my head. If I think of any others I?ll post about it later. I really need to get back to bed. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />