I am on an expedition to see some cool North Carolina nature this weekend and do not have an internet connection, so I am not able to get Swarm Sunday posted today. Look for it Monday or Tuesday instead. It was a HUGE week for dragonfly swarms, so I’m excited to post it!
In the meantime, this is post #700 on the Dragonfly Woman! To celebrate, I have a copy of Daniella Martin’s awesome book, Edible, to give away!
Daniella is an expert on entomophagy, or eating insects, and is a huge proponent of introducing edible insects into the human diet worldwide. I love this book, and I am excited to give a copy to a blog reader.
To enter, simply answer this question in the comments by Friday, Sept 11, 2015:
“What would it take to convince you to eat an insect?”
Now I know some of you are already edible insect lovers and if so, please also tell me what the best insect you’ve tried so far is.
I’ll select one random winner and post their name next week. WordPress asks that you provide an e mail address when you comment, and I’ll use that to contact the winner to get a mailing address to ship the book. Please double-check your e mail address before you submit! I can’t contact you for an address if you don’t send me the right one.
Good luck, and thank you all so much for continuing to read my little blog!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
“What would it take to convince you to eat an insect?”
I’ve eaten several species of insects already. I think my favourite was roasted bamboo worms, they were crunchy, fatty, salty and had a smoky flavor because of preparation: just like bacon!
I think all that is needed for me to eat more is to have insects available to eat. Prepared is even better, but I can prepare them myself as well.
I suspect more people could get behind eating insects if they tasted like bacon. :)
I am definitely a proponent of entomophagy. I think I tried dried crickets once, and they really didn’t taste like much of anything. All it would take to convince me to eat an insect is that the insect was (1) dead and (2) cooked to ensure there are no living nematodes or other parasites in it. I think it is silly to be revolted by the idea of eating insects when they are a sustainable, nutritious food source.
Glad to hear that you’re a proponent of entomophagy! Wish more people were.
The only insects I have eaten are chocolate covered crickets and sautéed mealworms. Both were good, but I think I prefer the crickets.
Think that was due to the chocolate or the texture or the flavor or…? I know I would prefer insects in chocolate just because I’m used to having crunchy elements in my chocolate and it wouldn’t be such a foreign texture. I’m all about textures with my food.
My best memory of entomophagy is eating a deep fried Lubber grasshopper, sans legs at a street market in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria in the 1970s. Tasted like a greasy sausage and just slid down! My subsequent adventures have been thwarted by lack of good insect protein sources here in the wilds of Canada.
Lubber, huh? I’m gonna assume that wasn’t one of the nasty toxic ones that I usually think of! Glad you enjoyed your big fat grasshopper and hope you can find a suitable alternative in Canada. Got a local pet store where you can buy crickets or mealworms? They’re the most commonly eaten insects in this part of the world and readily available in a way most other insects are not.
Looks like a great book! As much as I love insects, I’d have to admit – that in order to willingly eat an insect (larger than a gnat) – I’d have to be desperately hungry and have something to mask any weird flavors around. I guess it’s the chewing that I have the most difficulty getting my mind around!
Well, most people remove the really crunchy bits, such as wings and legs, before they eat insects, much like how people eat shrimp and crabs and whatnot. The crunch turns a lot of people off, I know, but I suspect that’s why so many insects are fried. You expect crunch with a fried food, so easier to overlook why it’s crunchy perhaps?
I would eat a bug if it were dipped in chocolate for sure. I have eaten a mealworm, but it had a flavored powder coating, which gives me the icks more than eating a bug does.
I would LOVE to win this book. My niece is a budding entomologist, and she has eaten her share.
My email should show up in your notifications, but in case it doesn’t, here’s an email address you can use: zooheatheroneatgeemaildotcom.
Chocolate coatings can make almost anything better I think. :)
I agree.
Do earthworms count? If so, the clincher for me was the crunchy cornmeal batter in which they were fried. Yum!
Yeah? Most people don’t like earthworms because of the dirt inside them. Glad you had a different experience! I’d eat earthworms if I knew they were cleaned well and were cornmeal battered.
I haven’t eaten many insects but the strangest (to me) was a male honey bee, ironically marinated in honey :)
It somehow seems wrong to eat a bee marinated in honey… Hope it was tasty!
In Viet Nam I ate what looked a very large fly larva (Tip-toed around the “M” word)! They were fried and were pretty good.
When I was a kid in west Texas we used you use a magnifying glass to burn these huge red ants to a crisp; I tried one, yuch, it was nasty.
Interesting how many people eat fried insects, worldwide. Everything does taste better fried, after all!
I truly think I would have to starving to death before I would eat an insect. Perhaps this book would change my mind!!! Thank you for the opportunity to win it :).
I think most people get a lot less choosy if they get really hungry. Here’s hoping it never comes to it for you!
What would it take? During the Florida summer, it takes opening your mouth to speak. Woosh, there’s a gnat, you just ate an insect. Little guys have the worst suicide rate on the planet.
Or did you mean on purpose? : – )
I already have had chocolate covered ants (didn’t add anything to the chocolate in my opinion) and something that was advertised as stir-fried grasshoppers, but they didn’t look like grasshopper parts to me so… no idea what that was, really.
So, uh… free food. I guess I’m easy. : – )
Love the accidental insect eating you do. :)
What it took to convince me to eat an inscet. Somewhere around the year 1955 when I was seven years old an older man down the road from our house would ask us to catch grasshoppers for him and he fried them in a cast iron skillet in his garage, maybe because his wife wouldn’t have it in the house. Anyway, us neighbor kids helped him eat these tasty treats.
A few days ago I was in the woods cutting firewood and ran across some small grubs and decided to try one. Somewhat crunchy and not bad.
The next time I find some I plan on frying them up in an old cast iron skillet.
They say they are a tasty treat.
That’s awesome! Fried grasshoppers are eaten in a lot of cultures. I hear that chaupulines tacos, grasshopper tacos, are quite tasty – a meal enjoy by many Mexicans.
I’ve had the opportunity to try “chocolate covered baby bumble bees” many years ago and couldn’t bring myself to have a go. I still wouldn’t be able to. I’m not a queasy sort and will eat other arthropods (crab, shrimp and twice had lobster). I eat various Asian foods considered yucky by most non-Asians and enjoy organ meats. But biting into an insect – from egg to adult – I just can’t.
How would I eat insects then? By having them ground and added to flour for baking. A couple of decades back I read about grasshoppers dried, ground to a flour consistency and a percentage added to flour making a protein-rich bread called ‘Jiminy bread’. It was said to taste slightly nutty and quite pleasant. I thought it a great idea then and still do.
Since I bake my own bread, I’d happily embrace adding ground insect flour to my bread. And I wouldn’t care what insects were used. I’d add the flour to anything that flour could be used in. So there – I’ll eat insects that way and ONLY that way! :)
Well, then I feel I should let you know that cricket flour is available from various sources! Adds protein to you baked goods without a lot of the texture or flavor. :)
I haven’t tried eating insects, yet ~ but have really wanted to. My husband and I both love to experience new foods, and we both love to cook. This book is something he and I would both enjoy reading, and possibly learning ways of incorporating insects into our menu from time to time.
So glad to hear that you’re adventurous eaters! I am not myself – always envious of people who are.
For me to eat an insect I’d have to be given the information on any and all chemicals/other stuff that are in the body of said insect, and I’d need to know how any of them I’ve never heard of could possibly affect my body in a negative fashion.
Well that and it would have to be an insect I don’t like.
I’ve always found it intriguing to hear why people don’t eat insects. I will admit that I am not an insect eater myself (the texture is all kinds of wrong for me), but I think I would personally worry a lot more about pesticides on my food, maybe hormones in the meat and dairy I eat, than anything in or on the commonly eaten insects. Crickets are probably a whole lot safer than the pesticide drenched strawberries I eat!
Thanks for this opportunity! The only way I would eat an insect is if I could be assured it was not harmful. I have never eaten one before but I like crunch especially on my salad so imagine when I have friends over and brought out the insects instead of the croutons!!!!
Ha ha! Fried crickets or mealworms would likely give you the right kind of crunch you’re looking for – and freak out your salad eating friends. :)
I have eaten plenty of insects in an accidental manner. Ones that have aposematic colors (such as ladybugs) tend to taste horrible. However, I do not plan on intentionally eating any large quantities of insects due to a shellfish allergy. Thankfully the allergy only causes stomach cramps/vomiting and not swelling/shortness of breath/etc..
Yeah, sucks to have a shellfish allergy and then try to eat insects. Glad you don’t go into anaphylaxis! That would be awful, especially given the number of insect bits found in so many foods…
A Korean friend gave me a jar of silkworm moths in brine and…even my husband the omnivore refused them. My parents ate witchetty grubs in Australia; not sure I could do that either. I am certain I have eaten mealyworms and pantry moths in cooked rice, though. I’d consider eating insects if they didn’t look so much like insects!! After all, they are plentiful and in many cases nutritious.
Ooh, I think I’d be there with your husband on the brined silkworms. That would be ALL wrong texturally for me.