At any rate, when I became a cultural anthropologist, I decided to be open-minded about other people's cultures. Needless to say, I ate bugs again. I admit the ants weren't half bad. It was like eating a handful of crunchy nuts. The tarantula on the other hand was pretty vomit inducing. There's something about food that squirts or projectiles parts of its insides. It's just not right.
Whether we want to or not, it's estimated that the average person will eat one pound of insect parts in a year. That's right folks. The Food and Drug Administration actually allows certain levels of natural and “unavoidable” parts in food, so long as they don't pose a health risk. Yum yummy.
The next time you look at your labels that have red or pink coloring in the food, see if it has cochineal extract. It comes from the cochineal insect, which is also used in lipsticks and beverages. Chocolate contains up to 60 insect parts per 100 grams. Tomato sauce might contain up to 30 fly eggs per 100 grams. Even peanut butter and your favorite cereals have insect parts in it.
Although the thought of eating bugs can make us squeamish, many cultures relish and rely on insects as a natural food source. Eating insects for food has spanned thousands of years. Pliny once wrote that aristocratic Romans loved beetle larvae soaked in wine and roasted in flour. Aristotle wrote about how to eat cicada larvae when they emerged from the grounds. It was best to eat them when their shells hadn't hardened. The females tasted better when they were full of eggs. Cicadas were the delicacy of fine dining.
According to the Bible, St. John the Baptist survived on locusts and honey while living in the desert. Paiute Indians used to hunt for Mormon crickets. They would then burn them, and the women would grind them into flour; thus making them a prime staple of food. Africa, Asia, and parts of South American diets rely on insects as an integral part of their food.
It's funny to think that in our society, some of us frown at those who would eat bugs. But when you think about it, we eat shrimp and lobster; which like insects are arthropods. They're the bottom feeders of the oceans. You don't even want to know what they ingest. The next time you munch on one of these little critters, just think about where they just came from.
When you think about it, we can be so judgmental when it comes to our perceptions of other cultures. And why should we care about others eating bugs when we ourselves are entomophagists (bug eaters)? I mean, what is honey? It's the regurgitated food of honeybees. And we Americans love the stuff. I'm not saying that the next time you see that cricket bouncing across the floor that you should snatch it up and eat it. Besides, think of all that nutritious protein you'd be gaining if you did eat bugs. Got bugs?
