Eating Insects

American Indians would harvest grasshoppers in the early morning, while they were still lethargic from the night's chill. If you had enough people, and a large net with small mesh, I imagine you could "drive" them before you with a bunch of people beating the long grass with switches and then drive them into the net, held by 2 other folks.

But it's a good point to not expend more calories "catching" bugs than you'd get back. This makes the wood grubs I'm fond of not so great a resource. In a cord of wood, using a hydraulic splitter, I'll usually only see 2 to 5, and unless I came across some while splitting wood for my fire in the bush, they wouldn't be worth "looking" for. But any *found* calories can't be ignored. :~} From what I understand, Witchety and Suri grubs are actually fairly easy to find and harvest, provided one knows where to look. The locals eat them as part of their normal diets, not as "survival rations".
 
Nope, Pict, I haven't tried insects yet. Even though there are plenty in the region where I live. I hear stories of natives eating them. For these people, insects are very much part of their menu.

We suburban folks stick to our home-cooked stuff and processed food.
City slickers tend to have weaker bellies. A touch of foreign stuff and they get the runs.

However, should I find myself in one of those exotic places one of these days, I will gather all my courage and give it a go. :D
 
Golok,

I never meant to imply that you were a bug-eater. I've just noticed a commonality in some of the questions you post... hunting, ways to hunt, what to eat, how to eat it. It just seemed like this would be a question you would get to sooner or later. I doubt you would be too squeamish to go hungry for long. Mac
 
MacHete brought up the subject of insects vis-a-vis Kosher food.
Except for several varieties of grasshoppers / locusts, all insects are forbidden. Kosher food is specifically inspected to preclude insects, although microscopic strains are ignored (for very practical reasons they don't count). For example, rice is sorted to determine if there are bugs in the sack and chickpeas are examined to see if they are host to parasites that have bored in.
Regarding locusts, nearly all Jews for thousands of years have simply not tasted them - again, for practical reasons. Jews who resided in Yemen were accustomed to eating them until recent times. There has recently been an attempt to renew this "tradition".
 
Except for several varieties of grasshoppers / locusts, all insects are forbidden.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the rabbinic tradition is like now, but here's the direct quote from the Torah (Leviticus 11:20-23):

"20 All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. 21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. 22 Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you."

In the NIV, "bald locust" is translated as katydid.

So you might be able to add katydids and crickets to that list.
 
So, John the Baptist wasn't the rebel I always thought he was for eating "locusts and wild honey". :) I've gotta say, the 'goes on all fours but has jointed legs above the feet' language is very confusing to me. :confused: All insects have joints above their feet. Is it only the "hopping" insects that are acceptible? Ants and bees are out? Thinking of John Baptist again; it's kinda hard to eat wild honey without getting a bit of bee (adult or larval) in it.

Touching the whole toxicity issue- Everything I have ever heard or read says "COOK 'EM, DANO". This will certainly eliminate enzymatic problems and living parasites, but does anyone know of any circumstance where cooking will create toxins? I would make it a practise to avoid, for example, caterpillars with pencils or fuzz, because of the likelihood of irritants. I would also not eat the tent worms eating my cherry trees because of the high levels of arsenic in the bark. I think there is also a psychological benefit to cooking your bugs, because on a cultural level, we are conditioned to "process" our food.

Other thoughts?
 
This is definitely a topic that comes up quite a bit from our students. I'll copy/paste some of the info we put out and will do more upon request but reading through military manuals can be pretty boring.

OH, in case you were wondering, I'm a SERE instructor for the Navy ...and for the record I've eaten ants, grubs, grasshoppers, earthworms and sucked the eyeball out of an animal or two (after checking for tularimia, of course).

======================================================================

The most abundant life-form on earth, insects are easily caught. Insects
provide 65 to 80 percent protein compared to 20 percent for beef. This
fact makes insects an important, if not overly appetizing, food source.
Insects to avoid include all adults that sting or bite, hairy or brightly
colored insects, and caterpillars and insects that have a pungent odor.
Also avoid spiders and common disease carriers such as ticks, flies,
and mosquitoes.
Rotting logs lying on the ground are excellent places to look for a
variety of insects including ants, termites, beetles, and grubs, which are
beetle larvae. Do not overlook insect nests on or in the ground. Grassy
areas, such as fields, are good areas to search because the insects are
easily seen. Stones, boards, or other materials lying on the ground pro-vide
the insects with good nesting sites. Check these sites. Insect larvae
are also edible. Insects such as beetles and grasshoppers that have a
hard outer shell will have parasites. Cook them before eating. Remove
any wings and barbed legs also. You can eat most insects raw. The taste
varies from one species to another. Wood grubs are bland, while some
species of ants store honey in their bodies, giving them a sweet taste.
You can grind a collection of insects into a paste. You can mix them with edible vegetation. You can cook them to improve their taste.

Worms (Annelidea) are an excellent protein source. Dig for them in
damp humus soil or watch for them on the ground after a rain. After
capturing them, drop them into clean, potable water for a few minutes. The worms will naturally purge or wash themselves out, after which you can eat them raw.

======================================================================

I don't post here much but I'll try to contribute when I can..I usually work on the "RE" part of SERE but I still know a thing or two about the "SE" part!! ;)

Josh

Edited for spelling
 
I went to the USAF SERE school and we ate alot of insects there though. I think I liked the ants the best they were the only ones that it didnt really bother me to eat
 
I've eaten ants, various hoppers, a few types of larvae, land crabs, and several varieties of beetle. Some cooked, some raw. Most often with rice or in soup. Bugs are good! Never tried worms.
 
Earthworms are very good if fried. Just purge them for a day or take the soil out of them by squeezing, and fry them in a shovel, can or stone. They taste like bacon, honestly.
Othe bugs I have eaten are not so good, but most (grubs, grasshoppers,cocorouch(spelling?) and others I can´t name in english) are about the same cooked or raw. I must say that I´ve tried raw grasshoppers and others because they lived in a controled enviornment where there was no possibility of catching parasites. Otherwise you must cook them, and I personally cook everything.
 
I second the cooking idea. The only thing I eat raw is sushi and.. well sushi.

Bacon eh?

cockroach;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top