Come and eat bugs at The Arboretum

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Zack Lemann, bug chef from the Insectarium, served up a variety of tasty treats to school groups at Crosby Arboretum’s Wildlife Day last March. Zach travels all over the country, making appearances at other buggy celebrations, and will present his culinary delights at the Arboretum’s Bugfest on the morning of September 18. Photo by Patricia Drackett
Rosy the Tarantula lives a comfortable life at the New Orleans Audubon Insectarium. However, if she lived in the Amazon jungle, northern Thailand, or Cambodia, she might end up as a tasty dinner. Photo by Patricia Drackett

September 8, 2010

By Patricia Drackett, Crosby Arboretum Interim Director The Picayune Item Picayune Item Wed Sep 08, 2010, 10:49 AM CDT

PICAYUNE — The thought of eating bugs – one of the many activities planned for the Crosby Arboretum’s Bugfest – may not seem an attractive idea to most of us, but it is a popular cultural practice in many other parts of the world.

Some report the taste of insects as being reminiscent of coconut oil, chicken, or having a peppery flavor. You will have the chance to make your own decision on this issue by sampling some of the specialties prepared by Zack Lemann of the New Orleans Audubon Insectarium, such as Crispy Cajun Crickets, Six-legged Salsa, Chocolate Chirp Cookies, Caterpillar Fruit Spread, and Waxworm-Topped Apple Slices. I’ll admit that the closest I’ve gotten to this subject are his cinnamon-sugar waxworms (perfect for sissies!), and I had to close my eyes as my son grinned and repeatedly sampled salsa studded with mealworms during our visit to the Insectarium’s bug café.

Go to your favorite bookseller’s website and search for “Man Eating Bugs” to find this book and others on the subject of eating insects. Books on this topic have received high praise by readers. This particular one is focused on how other cultures embrace insects as a food source, and contains hundreds of fascinating color photos. One reviewer mentioned that this book had been a well-received Christmas present, so you might consider adding this unique item to your shopping list. It will certainly be a gift remembered for years to come!

For a book with more emphasis on recipes, consider the “Eat-a-Bug Cookbook: 33 Ways to Cook Grasshoppers, Ants, Water Bugs, Spiders, Centipedes, and Their Kin.” If your office has a secret Santa event at their holiday party, this promises to be an unforgettable gift.

Look up the word entomophagy on the internet. The term means “the practice of eating insects as food”. Entomophagy is not only the practice of eating insects but also includes eating arachnids (mostly tarantulas), and myriapods (mostly centipedes).

Insect eating is rare in the developed world but it is still embraced in many countries in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia, for example, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Africa, Mexico, Colombia and New Guinea. Insects are eaten in these countries not just for their nutritional value, but because they taste good!

Popular insect and arachnids eaten throughout the world include beetle grubs (such as mealworms), crickets, cicadas, caterpillars (such as waxworms), grasshoppers, ants, termites, dragonflies, scorpions, and tarantulas. While some insects are tasty as larvae or pupae, others are consumed as adults. They can be a good source of protein, and also of vitamins, minerals, and fats. For example, crickets are high in calcium, and termites are rich in iron. However, in this country, it is a good idea to only consume insects from trusted sources, as it is impossible to know whether the ones we encounter have been tainted with pesticides.

“Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects”, will be one of the books included in the Crosby Arboretum’s Insect Trunk, one of four educator trunks to be released this fall for check-out by teachers to use in their classrooms.

To register a school group for the Crosby Arboretum’s Friday, September 17 field trip, focused on insect collecting, call 601-799-2311.

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