Eating bugs

B

blackfeetmageet

Joined
May 11, 2009
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This is likely the most underrated survival skill -it is really more of a mind-set than a skill, but really. How many people out there are ready to eat bugs and actualy have done it for practice/ fun/ training/ whatever. Are you ready to eat bugs? Sure, we would all do it if we had to, but who actualy does it? I know I dont -and it really is a weakness for survival situations, I would probably wait a long time (starving) until I started eating bugs to survive.

I was inspired to post this thought because I watched a show on the travel channel with that guy Andrew Zimmern who eats "bizar foods." In the episode he was trained how to survive in the jungle of south America, and had to stay two nights on his own with basic suplies (clothes, knife etc, no shelter) and no food. He was no suvival expert, but I realized that his best streangth was eating bugs, something I know most of us would avoid, and it was his first meal. He did not even hesitate to eat a big grass hopper. That is a survival skill and should not be underrated - an open minded stomach.

Just thought I would share this thought. Kinda makes me wish we didnt grow up with a cultural bias towards eating bugs -because it would make us much stronger in survival situations if we didn't.

For those of you who chomp on bugs: :thumbup::thumbup:
 
I like bugs
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Some bugs arent too bad. Despite popular opinion, ants are pretty tasty. Just hold the head, and bite off the body. It's got a sweet, acidic taste. Grasshoppers arent as good as the ants, but they would do you in a pinch. I always remove the legs and roast them over a fire, as I've heard they can carry parasites. Grubs are do-able. But, for me, that is all they are. It's mostly the puss-filled feeling you get from them I dislike. YMMV.
 
I've eaten steamed Silk Worm larva, but I didn't know what it was when I ate it. I think I would have to try and find some way to cook the bugs first. Cooking would make it easier for me...
 
Disgust sensitivity -

I have a hard time eating spiders. They need to be pounded up. Eggs from spiders is another thing that causes me to stall. Again, they need some processing. Quite a lot of bloody processing actually. Other than that I don't care. I might not like X very much but it doesn't disgust me. In fact, I rather delight in pointing out how similar things like woodlice are to commonly prized things like prawns. I'm quite good at this sort of stuff, aside from an incident in which I was brained and with way to much confidence took on a snail with the shell. Mistake! That was like biting a rock hard bit of shell off the beach. No other fails to report.
 
In my area of Brazil there is a cornucopia of bugs that are regularly eaten but it is very hard to get people to talk about it. Apparently there is stigma that comes with it as if that only for poor people. We have a species of giant, wasp sized ants that they like to fry up and mix with toasted manioc flour. I haven't eaten them yet. Mac
 
I've eaten various bugs a number of times while going through military survival schools, and several times in the mountains of South East Asia (don't want to insult the indigenous personnel, you know), but I don't do it by choice. Yeah, I've done it -- and some weren't too bad -- but, like many of us, I still don't like the thought of it. In an actual survival situation, I would eat them without giving it a second thought, but here in sillyvisation I don't seek them out. Not exactly gourmet fare in these parts. I guess it's all what you're conditioned to eat. Been there, done that, have nothing left to prove, so I'll stick to the American food that I'm used to.
 
I think the easiest thing to get a newb to practice on here is the humble earth worm. No wings, or legs, or hairs, or bitter gunk, but just enough to put most people over the age of about 5yrs off. Easy to find, easy to prep, and loaded with amino acids.
 
baldtaco-II said:
I think the easiest thing to get a newb to practice on here is the humble earth worm. No wings, or legs, or hairs, or bitter gunk, but just enough to put most people over the age of about 5yrs off. Easy to find, easy to prep, and loaded with amino acids.
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Yeah, but Mommy told me to stop eating worms.
 
Hi all. Roasted Grass hoppers over a fire are not bad and slugs dpending on what ones they are, some are way better than others though LOL. Termites are ok to but not my favorite.

No spiders, ants or crickets as of yet.

Bryan
 
I've eaten a metric ton of bugs in my travels, in the military and just to see if I could. I certainly have an aversion to them, most likely cultural, but I can do it in a pinch. They're a great and readily available source of protein (ounce for ounce higher than beef) that requires little energy expenditure to get. For a survival situation they're ideal food.

In SE Asia when you go to the bar districts of the cities there are always carts full of various, mostly fried, bugs. It's like corn nuts or pretzels at a bar. The people who own the carts are obviously used to tourists and are willing to let you get a grab bag of bugs so you can try each of them. For some reason cockroaches bother me the most (probably because they can surviven anything), followed by spiders. Things like banana slugs and cicadas are pretty good. In The Phillipines I ate some kind of wood worm that was really pretty tasty, even raw. Kinda sweet.

I had sugar ants in Australia that were well-named. They're a welcome treat in the wilderness. Some other ants I had were minty tasting.

In Africa bugs are a regular part of the diet of many people, along with bush meat. For the most part I didn't enjoy the way they prepared the bugs there at all, as most were boiled or steamed. Everything tastes better deep fat fried and pan roasted is okay too. Boiled bugs equal squishy grossness. When I lived in the South I couldn't eat boiled peanuts because they reminded me vividly of those boiled bugs.

I've eaten a few bugs in S. and Central America, but as Pict mentioned there seems to be a stigma attached to them and are considered food for the poor and desperate in many areas. Plenty to choose from there, but pick them carefully as many are poisonous.

When I went through one of my military training courses in Europe we ate omelletes made from eggs of some sea going bird with earth worms and those were really great.

Grubs are a great source of fat, too (one of the hardest to come by commodities in a survival situation), but I've yet to have one that actually tastes good. Ever. Roast it, mince it up and eat it in a soup so that you can pretend you're not eating a grub.

When I teach a survival class I always eat a few bugs to gross everyone out and to show how to prepare them, although I'm no expert (I teach to remove wings and legs and to cook all bugs, for safety's sake, and that if it's slow moving, brightly colored and/or fuzzy to avoid them, unless you know they're safe for a fact).

I would like to learn more about eating bugs, as not all are edible. Some ants and termites are edible, but I've read that some are not due to the high amounts of formic acid. Anybody know of any resources on the subject of bug eating?
 
Eaten a few mezcal worms...

Actually have tried quiet a few, all in SE Asia. Locusts are easy since you can buy them roasted, also tried ants, snails, grubs. Traditional sources of proteins for the very poor.

The weirdest were the boiled spiders I had in Cambodia, tasted like wet felt + rotten sunflower seeds.
 
Eaten a few mezcal worms...

Actually have tried quiet a few, all in SE Asia. Locusts are easy since you can buy them roasted, also tried ants, snails, grubs. Traditional sources of proteins for the very poor.

The weirdest were the boiled spiders I had in Cambodia, tasted like wet felt + rotten sunflower seeds.
 
I think the easiest insect to start with (at least for me it was) is the Mayfly. They are very soft, so you don't get that crunch and then a big squish of goo that puts a lot of people off trying insects. Also, they aren't ominous looking and are harmless. They have a pleasant, mild taste that is faintly crabby or fishy to me. It is a good time of year for them around here right now. I call them "flying caviar".
 
CWL said:
Eaten a few mezcal worms...

Actually have tried quiet a few, all in SE Asia. Locusts are easy since you can buy them roasted, also tried ants, snails, grubs. Traditional sources of proteins for the very poor.

The weirdest were the boiled spiders I had in Cambodia, tasted like wet felt + rotten sunflower seeds.
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mezcal worms only aside from the bugs i dont intentionally eat while riding the dirt bike or 4 wheeler;)
 
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