Now -- Liberals Can Eat Well And Aid Global Hunger

[bobbolink]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975601/posts

UN Conference Promotes Insect Eating - Crickets, Grubs Called High Source Of Protein
WFSB.com Hartford, Conn. ^ | February 24, 2008 | AP

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Crickets, caterpillars and grubs are high in protein and minerals and could be an important food source during droughts and other emergencies, according to scientists.

(snip)

A Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs. Australian, Dutch and American researchers said more restaurants are serving the critters in their countries.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Researchers at the conference detailed how crickets and silk worms are eaten in Thailand, grubs and grasshoppers in Africa and ants in South America.


(snip)
"These mass outbreaks could be a valuable food source," he said. "If the technology is available, they could be ground up like a paste and added to the food humans eat."

[Taverner]

1. I have had Thai Bugs

In Thailand of course :)

Trust me, they taste good, and you'd never know you were eating bugs. They usually pulverise the insides and discard the shell - so it just tastes like really rich food whatever you're eating.

[Warpy]

3. They'd have to treat them that way

because anything that looks like the original insect or grub would creep me out. I wouldn't mind knowing grubs were the "meat" in that steamed bun if they didn't look like grubs.

I did sample chocolate covered ants and fried grasshoppers as a kid, thanks to the owner of a gourmet store with a sensayuma. I liked the latter more than a former. I didn't throw either of them up.

I guess he didn't realize how often leg of frog was served when I was growing up. Plus, my mother hated cooking and it showed. I had a cast iron gut.

Just don't expect me to eat liver. I don't care if I sit at that table and put down roots and you all grow old and die. That stuff is not going down my throat.

[Taverner]

5. The best is waterbeetle paste with pepper

It literally tastes like just garlic, pepper and maybe a little tofu added in :)

But it goes awesome with some Bia Singh and Sticky Rice!

[caseycoon]

2. I'm gonna be a conservative now....

:rofl:

[yorgatron]

4. Soylent Green is

Insects?!?

[bobbolink]

8. Have you no sense of adventure???

:+ :hi: :+

[mntleo2]

6. Chocolet Covered Ants Are Delicious!

...have had them and they taste kind of like a Nestle's Crunch bar. My uncle, who learned survivalist skills from growing up in the woods, used to do fire watch in the middle of the wilderness in the 1950's and 50's. He told me he tried eating red ants and they were kind of sour, but actually not bad. I remember a time when organic food was considered "blah" and now it is the most expensive food you can buy. Now every elitist on the planet has organic everything in their kitchen.

Why this ought to make those rich people to run out and buy some of that de-licious bug paste. They can discuss recipes at the next cocktail party so they can (while pretending they already know) figure out which plate, the proper fork and what course to serve them in. MMMMM-MMMMMM good!

Oh yeah! I sense a new fad a'comin'!

:headbang: :headbang: :smoke: :smoke: :rofl: :rofl: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: <--seriously folks they are SO into the "next new thing" that if it became a fad they are so eager to spend money and dumb enough about how to waste it, they would go to the ends of the earth to get some...why there is your first million right there!

Cat In Seattle

[bobbolink]

9. I luv ya, Cat! You got me right away, dincha?

:toast: :hug: :toast:

[bobbolink]

11. Picture it: Starbugs at every intersection, in every grocery store.

Drive-thru Starbugs wanna-beees in every parking lot.

Ohhhh, the profits we'll reap!

:rofl:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I had an uncle who ate fried grasshoppers in the 60s

and snake meat--all for shock value. Wonder if he'd think it was shocking to find out this is now a potential protein source for the mainstream.

[knitter4democracy]

10. Man, I just couldn't do it.

I'm with Warpy on the liver, too. I just can't eat that.

Give me old-time Midwestern cooking over that any day. ;)

[dajoki]

12. Nevermind...

There are questions about the safety of eating bugs and potential dangers from over-harvesting them, said Durst, who became interested in the practice known scientifically as entomophagy during his years working in Bangkok, where crickets and bamboo worms are sold as food by street vendors.

Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Program, the U.N. agency that provides food in emergencies, expressed doubt that insects can benefit large, vulnerable populations. Most bugs are seasonal and have a short shelf life, she said.

Where I live we have a place that serves fish dinners to underprivelaged people and everything is all homecooked by the volunteers. Well, the FDA came in and threatened to shut them down and levy some hefty fines if they come back and "catch" them serving homemade baked goods. Maybe they have something against cakes and pies, I don't know. Perhaps they should start serving cricket dumplings and skeeter turnovers.

[lonestarnot]

13. Swell!

:puke:

[bobbolink]

14. I take it that's a pass?

No Starbugs for you?

:rofl:

[lonestarnot]

15. Hell no bugs for me! Nothing that creepy crawls. Hugh ugh. I'll just have to starve.

[kineneb]

16. hmmm. If prepared properly, bugs might taste good.

...but then I lived for a year in the Middle East, and probably consumed quite a few without knowing it...

my pet chicken seems to think bugs and worms are tasty...(on the other hand, she ate a foot of Teflon plumbers' tape- you really don't want to know...)

[Recursion]

17. Soylent Green is insects! IT'S INSECTS!

[blindpig]

18. Oh no! Will I be priced out of grubs too?

In colonial times lobsters were considered peasant food, only when the extant luxury seafood species were whacked did lobsters develop their fancy cache. When I was growing up in B'more crabs were cheap and plentiful, nowadays I hear that in fancy crab joints like Obrycki's primo crabs fetch $120 a dozen. While "improvements" in food transport undoubtedly contributed to demand and habitat deterioration has reduced populations the gentrification of crabs has surely forced them out of the reach of regular folks. Even on the SC coast the price of a bushel live is astronomical.

Hell, they're all arthropods, yes? When hunting termites(another story) I often find these fat tasty looking grubs, I better git while the gitting good!

[bobbolink]

19. "I better git while the gitting good!"

Damn right!

Git that "Starbugs" patent while you can!

Ohhhh, the profits we'll reap!

:hug: