Gagh anyone?

[farntfar]

"Riker says Yum!"
Yellow mealworm safe for humans to eat, says EU

 

[HareBrain]

Shouldn't the wording in the link be "says euwwwwww"?

 

[Wayne Mack]

Let go of your biases, people. When we visit my wife's family in Thailand, it is quite often that we have fried cricket. These are a white bodied insect that Kunyi (Grandmother) fries in a wok with oil and fresh garlic. The texture is a quick crunch similar to a potato chip and the flavor is that of fried garlic. I'm not sure the crickets truly have a flavor of their own.

Fried insects are quite popular in Thailand and a quick internet search will come back with many hits. One: Thailand Insect Food: Eating Fried Insects in Thailand | THAIest

 

[RJM Corbet]

Long string of four letter words discouraged under Chrons code of conduct ...

 

[Biskit]

Funnily enough, I just put a handful of these out for the birds. The bag does say "not for human consumption" but they actually smell borderline appetising.

 

[Dave]

Yes, the birds can't get enough of them.

These are a white bodied insect that Kunyi (Grandmother) fries in a wok with oil and fresh garlic.

Little different to prawns, langoustine tails, or even snails.

They are very high in protein and in the future we will have little choice other than to eat them (if we are to eat less red meat) however, I think they will be sold more as a mince or a powder so as not to offend sensibilities. Otherwise, the viewing figures for I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here wouldn't be quite as high as there would be no shock value.

 

[farntfar]

I'm sure they're very nourishing, and it's probably more about how you serve them than what they taste like themselves; much like snails.

My question is rather' how they'll be cultivated.
Presumably there will have to be some allowed to go on to the adult stage, in order to create the next generation.
What do the adult flies ( I assume) look like, and how will they keep them on the farm?

 

[mosaix]

What puts me off is that everything (I think) of animal origin that I eat has been cleaned i.e. has had its gut removed. I can't see that ever happening with mealworms.

 

[farntfar]

Or snails or prawns or anything very small really, Mosaix. (Monty Python's Crunchy frog chocolates?)

 

[HareBrain]

What puts me off is that everything (I think) of animal origin that I eat has been cleaned i.e. has had its gut removed.

Never had whitebait?

 

[Biskit]

What do the adult flies ( I assume) look like, and how will they keep them on the farm?

After I put some out for the birds, I got curious and looked it up. The adult is actually a black beetle called (*drummroll*) the mealworm beetle.

Mealworm - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[.matthew.]

Little different to prawns, langoustine tails, or even snails.

They are very high in protein and in the future we will have little choice other than to eat them (if we are to eat less red meat) however, I think they will be sold more as a mince or a powder so as not to offend sensibilities.

I find those foods gross as well. But having them or mealworms mulched into mince and powder wouldn't bother me so much. Sort of a whole how the sausage is made type deal, I know what's in them, I just wouldn't want to see the parts intact

Insects like this are good for providing nutrition with a small footprint so I actually consider it something we should be doing more of.

 

[mosaix]

Or snails or prawns or anything very small really, Mosaix. (Monty Python's Crunchy frog chocolates?)

I do believe that they remove that black thread from prawns don’t they? Or am I wrong?

 

[mosaix]

Never had whitebait?

Nope.

 

[Guttersnipe]

If only invertebrates looked more appetizing. The reason I don't eat things that look like they were once alive is the reason I steer clear of Cornish hens.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Puffy, my daughter's pet Bearded Dragon used to love those things. I was never inclined to try one for myself.

*****
How to clean the guts of escargot: Put them on a bed of cornmeal, about 12 hours, until the feces turn from greenish-black to cornmeal. Simple.

 

[Foxbat]

I’ve eaten snails and whitebait and quite enjoyed them. First time I tried them was the hardest. I think the pyschological barrier is more of a problem than anything else and would guess the same would apply to eating insects.

 

[Vladd67]

On a trip to Cape Town I was taken to a popular fish restaurant. It was a minor disappointment that the special of the day was English Channel Whitebait. As I remember it was tasty it just seemed a long way to go to get some.

 

[CupofJoe]

There was a pub near me that in the 80s it was run by South Africans*. Among their bar snacks were a dozen types of biltong [including Crocodile, Ostrich and I think Lion...], roasted honey covered locusts and something that I remember being like a centipede on-a-stick. I was never brave enough to try the centipede, but I remember the Locusts being like sweet corn nuts. I can remember it making me cough.
If the world wants to rely on animal protein in its diet, then we are probably going to have to get to like insects in all their [in]finite varieties.
Expect Witchetty Grub "scampi" some time soon.
* Sadly, it is long closed and now a series of homes/flats

 

[HareBrain]

Expect Witchetty Grub "scampi" some time soon.

I was going to point out that the quote marks are redundant, as most scampi already is "scampi", i.e. monkfish.

However! I thought I'd better check, and this hasn't been the case for at least 15 years, thanks to regulations. Sometimes things actually do get better.

If the world wants to rely on animal protein in its diet, then we are probably going to have to get to like insects in all their [in]finite varieties.

True enough, but there is also a major source of high-quality animal protein likely to cause severe environmental damage in the UK unless something is done with it -- venison. The best thing to do with the excess deer is cull and eat them, but instead we're importing farmed venison from New Zealand. Madness.