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Scorpion Lollipops and the Future of Microlivestock

by Erich Kuersten, Posted Oct 27th 2005 @ 10:32AM

Before you start squirming and nay-saying about Entomophagy, trend of the future, consider these facts:

Most insects marketed as food, such as crickets, are actually very clean. Consider that lobsters and shrimp are just as weird looking and come from the same genetic family. Now go and look at the bottom of the ocean floor and see how yucky it is--or the lovely Chicago stockyard--compared to where the cricket sups; an open field with the sun beaming down and him high on a blade of grass. You are what what you eat eats, think about it.

 Killing and eating insects by the pound is not only better than killing innocent mammals, it's important to OUR survival. We've got the rest of the mammals and reptiles right at the edge of extinction, but the bugs, they're doing better than ever, they've got no problem with our decimating the rainforest; they're just as happy to eat us!  There are so many bugs out there we never have to worry about the price going up or screwing up our karma too much. Is it fair that we eat plants and we eat the animals that eat the bugs that eat the plants, but we won't eat the bugs that eat the plants? That smacks of egalitarianism!

 All over the world, tribal cultures and everyone who is just a little too cool to buy into car consumer culture have no problem eating bugs. According to facts gathered by William Lyons at Ohio State University, 1,000 different kinds of insects are eaten the world over! Out of 1,000 different kind of bugs, I am sure you could find something you like, dear. (Read that last sentence in the weary tone of a mother with her stubborn 13-year old at a restaurant).

 In the future, a bug-rich diet is all but unavoidable if we don't want to continue polluting our ever more overpopulated planet or end up eating soylent green. As Lyons points out, " If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would relax the limit for insects and their parts (double the allowance) in food crops, U.S. farmers could significantly apply less pesticide each year." He also adds that the insects we do eat and don't know about actually boost the nutrition content of the foods they fall into. Which would you rather have less protein or less DDT?

 I came to the world of microlivestock via my enthusiasm for the hunter-gatherer diet and the fact that the Japanese grocery around the block sells a weird snack of dried plankton, sea monkeys, and Godzilla embryos. One simply can't argue with such a deliciously salty and weird idea.

The squeamishness Americans feel against having to look their food dead in its eyes prior to consumption operates from a prejudice based on the covert mandates of five star restaurants. To illustrate: If a stranger sends us a giant African lung beatle in the mail, we scream and call the cops. If we find a giant African lung beatle hanging out to dry on Canal Street, we recoil in Burroughs-esque horror. BUT if we are served a giant African lung beatle at a posh Tribecca restaurant owned by Robert De Niro, and he himself emerges from the kitchen in a swanky silk apron to serve it to us, you can bet we will be eating that lung beatle, and probably heading back to Canal Street the next day, asking how much is that African lung beatle in the window.

 Let's examine the dichotomies further: We can go pick out a live lobster in a tank or have no qualms about sucking the meat out of the leg of an Alaskan king crab. We can even eat snails as long as the French say it's okay… and yet, a scorpion lollipop--one of California's greatest contributions to the culinary arts--still inspires knee jerk revulsion in all but daring three year olds and the very, very drunk.

 Can I confess at this point that I haven't nor will I ever watch, Fear Factor? But I am not alone in believing bug-eating shows like it are slowly, intentionally paving the way for the bug-eating future by broaching the subject to a wary public and simultaneously vilifying it so as to not spook advertisers. I am a fan of Anthony Bourdain, who eats every bug he can get his hands on. Meanwhile, other five star chefs are using fried bees to make flour, making flavorful dressings and antipastos with ground up crickets, exciting the palettes of the rich and adventurous and paving the way for a healthier more environmentally friendly future. The question, my friends, is not IF you will ever eat bugs, because you already have (statistics show the average human unwittingly eats 1-2 pounds per year). The question is when you will drop the pretense of revulsion and admit you WANT to eat MORE? The first time may be a little weird, but if they're roasted and seasoned properly, I am sure you'll get over it and will be hogging the bag just like you do with the fritos. There, I've planted the seed, now let's just forget it and move on.

(P.S. There is no such thing as a Giant African Lung Beatle, that was just for the purpose of NAKED LUNCH-esque metaphor, so stop asking me for De Niro's recipe.)

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Filed Under: Science, Alt-SlashFood, Food Oddities, Trends, Did you know?, Ingredients
Tags: did you know, oddities, organic

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

Marc

10-27-2005 @12:25PM Marc said... Thanks for the interesting post. You raise a lot of big issues about today and the future.

Last week the conversation at my office lunch table somehow crawled over to "insects as food," so I've been thinking about the subject for a while (and hope to post the thoughts to my blog someday). One of the great books about eating habits is Marvin Harris' "The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671633082/qid=1130429762/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-6917071-8740937?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). One of the chapters is all about eating insects from an anthropologist's point of view. Here's a key quote: "A species will be apotheosized or abominated depending on its residual utility or harmfulness. A Hindu cow not eaten provides oxen, milk, and dung. It is it apotheosized. A horse not eaten wins battles and plows fields. It is a noble creature. A pig not eaten is useless---it neither plows fields, gives milk, nor wins wars. Therefore it is abominated. Insects not eaten are worse than pigs not eaten. They not only devour crops in the field, they eat the food right off your plate, bite, sting, make you itch, and suck your blood. If you don't eat them, they'll eat you."

However, I think that Harris wasn't writing about the post-industrial world, and the higher diversity of our American and European societies might weaken some of his arguments, especially those related to optimal foraging.

Insects are eaten extensively in Mexico, for example. Do Mexican immigrants to the U.S. continue to eat insects while in the U.S.? Do their U.S.-raised children like to eat insects? If not, is it because markets don't carry insects? Or does American culture do something to them?

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Dmnkly

10-27-2005 @4:36PM Dmnkly said... Hear, hear!

I say bring on the bugs!

Though my (conscious) experience with them is basically nil, any revulsion I may or may not have is undoubtedly a cultural prejudice and in no way based on any rational criteria.

If them's tasty eatin', I say we eats 'em!
Reply

Rebecca Baum

10-27-2005 @6:08PM Rebecca Baum said... Super fly! I love it-The subject of insectile cusine is broached with objectivity and thoroughness- additionally the winged-piece was an absolute joy to consume! Well written, witty, sly, delicious, post-.com, contempo-green, neo-victorian editorial. Yummy and crunchy. Sure to create lots of buzz, wink wink!
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