A Bug's Tasty Life

People are predicting that eating insects will soon be the next big thing in food trends. If you're squeamish about bugs and creepy-crawlies, you will find that hard to believe, but entomophagy – the consumption of insects for nourishment – is something that over two billion people around the world are already doing, according to the UN. Why is this considered to be a good thing? Raising and harvesting insects requires much less land than raising regular livestock. With the cost of meat rising, people are looking for a new source of protein in their diet. While biting into a bug may not appeal to most people, it may help to know that insects contain more protein and are lower in fat than traditional meats - you get a better feed-to-meat ratio than with beef, pork, lamb or chicken. Some of the more popular insects that can be eaten include crickets, grasshoppers, ants, mealworms, larvae from the darkling beetle or rhinoceros beetle, bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms, waxworms, as well as scorpions and tarantulas. However, this doesn't mean you can pop a bug in your mouth the next time you see a particularly tasty one when you're outside, as you have no idea if that insect is carrying germs, is poisonous, or is covered with pesticides. And what do clean, safe-to-eat insects taste like, you ask? It depends on the insect, with some tasting similar to toasted avocado; like bacon soup; or even like a salty Jolly Rancher. Below is a recipe for dry-roasted crickets, which have a taste similar to sunflower seeds. If you're still reluctant to give this a try, note that you probably have already ingested some insect parts, eggs, larvae, or filth inadvertently if you've ever eaten canned corn, canned citrus fruit juices, wheat flour, frozen broccoli, ground thyme, ground nutmeg, chocolate. noodles, or peanut butter. The food laws in many countries don't prohibit insect parts in food, as it's not possible to eliminate pest insects from the human food chain, so instead, they limit the quantity; an average of less than 150 insect fragments per 100 grams of wheat flour is considered a permissible level of insect contamination. With this recipe, you can't say you didn't know what you put in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 25 – 50 live crickets
  Note: (Again, because of the germ/pesticide issue, use only crickets purchased from a reliable source. Your best bet is a pet store, farming them yourself, or asking your friend with the pet snake where they get their insects from.)
• salt (or whatever seasoning you like to sprinkle on your popcorn)

Cricket prep

• Place the crickets in a plastic container or storage bag and keep them in the refrigerator, or the freezer for at least for an hour or until you are ready to use them. Treat the crickets the same way you would treat seafood, and use them while they're still fresh. After removing them from the refrigerator or freezer, place the crickets in a pot of boiling water big enough for the amount of crickets you’re using. Add a few pinches of salt, and let them boil for about two minutes. Once boiled, remove the insects from the water and let them cool. The crickets can now be placed in storage bags and kept in the freezer, or used right away for any number of recipes.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Arrange the crickets on a cookie sheet, making sure none of them overlap. Bake them for about 60 minutes or until the crickets are completely dry or dry enough for personal taste. You can test a cricket to see if it’s dry enough by crushing it with a spoon against a hard surface, or between your fingers, at about the 45-minute mark.
• Once roasted and cooled down, place a few crickets between your palms and carefully roll them to break off their legs and antennae to further ensure you’re eating a clean and crisp cricket. Season them with salt or whatever sort of seasoning you wish. Eat them on the spot or place them back into the freezer for future use.