Are insects the diet of the future?

[ivan astikov]

Virgin Media article

All I can say is, not on my menu, unless the choice is between that or Burgerland.

Can anyone else foresee themselves eating insects, other than as a result of global famine?

[OneCentStamp]

My issues with them would be mostly textural. I could eat crunchy things (or things prepared so as to be crunchy), but the idea of a fat, plump caterpillar spooging its guts into my mouth makes me a bit ill.

So, in short: fried scorpions yes, caterpillars no.

[ivan astikov]

Or a big, fat, juicy tarantula in breadcrumbs... YEEEUCH!

[Zuul]

My issues with them would be mostly textural. I could eat crunchy things (or things prepared so as to be crunchy), but the idea of a fat, plump caterpillar spooging its guts into my mouth makes me a bit ill.

So, in short: fried scorpions yes, caterpillars no.

This. I could handle crispy, crunchy bugs, but nothing squishy. I'm curious about whether or not cooked arachnids would be similar in taste and consistency to crustaceans.

[Cluricaun]

I'm not really picky about protein, if they could somehow make a palatable patty shaped disc of processed bugs like a veggie burger kind of a thing that I could slather in mustard and relish then I wouldn't have much of an issue with it. Lord knows I've probably eaten worse before, like those burgers we got in high school that appeared to be made of some sort of filament wrapped around itself 10k times.

[OtakuLoki]

Most anything will become edible when processed. Grasshopper chili, I suspect, would be quite palatable. However, I'd have to be pretty damned hungry before I tried it the first time. As I said in the food challenge thread: for some reason I make an emotional distinction between sea bugs (shrimp, lobster, crabs, and even those giant isopods) and land bugs. I love sea bugs, and would need some kind of very, very strong incentive to eat land bugs. I know it's an irrational distinction but it's still real for me.

This. I could handle crispy, crunchy bugs, but nothing squishy. I'm curious about whether or not cooked arachnids would be similar in taste and consistency to crustaceans.

While I was in college one of my friends had had a "pet" tarantula. For some reason (I believe it involved a drunken bet) he ended up deciding he no longer needed a pet - and so he boiled the critter, and ate it like a crab or lobster. He said it tasted pretty much the same as spider crab.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Although I tasted wichety grubs in Australia I'd probably go vegan before I made any insects a regular part of my diet.

[hatesfreedom]

Lord knows I've probably eaten worse before, like those burgers we got in high school that appeared to be made of some sort of filament wrapped around itself 10k times.

Daamn. The asian gas station down the street makes those exact same high school hamburgers and I"m kind of horribly addicted to them I think because of the memories of old times.