Insects as Food

Insect Flavors of the Month

submitted by Barb Ogg, PhD, Extension Educator
This article appeared in the NEBLINE Newsletter

Grasshoppers, termites and grubs are not typical American cuisine, but many cultures eat insects with great relish. What do bugs taste like? Here is a sampling...

• Raw termites taste like pineapple and cooked termites have a delicate, vegetable flavor.
• Grubs (which are larvae) of palm weevils taste like beef bone marrow. 
• Fried agave worms (canned in Mexico) taste like sunflower seeds. 
• Diving beetles (available in Chinatown in San Francisco) taste something like clams. 
• Fried grasshoppers taste like sardines. 
• French-fried ants (imported from Colombia) taste like beef jerky. 
• A praying mantis, fried over an open fire, tastes like shrimp and raw mushrooms. 
• Fried wax moth larvae taste like corn puffs or potato chips. 
• Fried spiders taste like nuts. 
• Fried baby bees taste like smoked fish or oysters.

Unappetizing? Consider that honey, a food that is appropriate in our culture, has been swallowed and regurgitated hundreds of times by honey bees.

Source: Invisible Bugs and Other Creepy Creatures That Live With You.

The information on this Web site is valid for residents of southeastern Nebraska. It may or may not apply in your area. If you live outside southeastern Nebraska, visit your local Extension office

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