Insect flavors of the month This article was submitted by
Barb Ogg, PhD, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska
Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County. The article
appeared in the Nebline Newsletter. Dates: April 1996 and
updated October 1998.
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.=A0
--Grubs (which are larvae) of palm weevils taste like beef
bone marrow.=A0
--Fried agave worms (canned in Mexico) taste like
sunflower seeds.=A0
--Diving beetles (available in Chinatown in San Francisco)
taste something like clams.=A0
--Fried grasshoppers taste like sardines.=A0
--French-fried ants (imported from Colombia) taste like
beef jerky.=A0
--A praying mantis, fried over an open fire, tastes like
shrimp and raw mushrooms.=A0
--Fried wax moth larvae taste like corn puffs or
potato chips.=A0
--Fried spiders taste like nuts.=A0
--Fried baby bees taste like smoked fish or oysters.=A0
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.
Picky ~JA~ (Is it my imagination, or do buffalo wings
taste like chicken?)