Eatbug

Site of the Week Edible Insects

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s nothing nicer, when you’re tired and hungry, than a nice cup of tea and a couple of chocolate covered cockroaches. Is there? You don’t agree? Prefer a Hobnob? Me too, to be honest, but having been to this website, I can feel my horizons broadening.

Edible Insects has been put together by a serious entomophagy evangelist, and her aim is, in the nicest possible way, to convert you to the cause.And by the sounds of it, we are all barking mad not to be eating insects already, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are delicious, cheap, healthy, and involve less work, space and environmental damage than the raising of conventional livestock. Insects are the food of the future, apparently.

So, if you want to get in there early, go to the recipe section for a place to start. She recommends cooking the insects, rather than eating them alive as some people do. “I prefer food that won’t crawl off my plate,” she says. I wouldn’t argue with that. You can begin with less obviously insectoid dishes, like chocolate biscuits made with mealworm flour (which tastes and smells like dried bacon) then move on to meals with legs when you feel more daring.

The author is a 16 year old from somewhere in the USA, and she became interested in insect eating in a rather roundabout way: “some teens dye their hair green, some start listening to heavy metal, some stay out all night partying…I ate insects,” she explains. Whether you want to be taking culinary advice from someone who confesses that she lives in a universe of her own creation is up to you. But at least now you have the option.

The site could definately have done with a few more pictures - but none of the other sites I saw on the subject had any either. They’re still all well worth a visit - just go to the links section. If you want to see what a mealworm meal looks like, you’ll just have to make one.

Richard Northover

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