Funny, this is actually the second thread in the past couple of days where eating insects has come up for unrelated reasons. I’ll repeat what I said in the other thread on a few points:
We should be eating cricket flour. […] And if we got over the “ick” factor, our carb-filled food would be a lot healthier.
No, you won’t be picking legs out of your teeth.
…
I’ve actually eaten insects when it’s clear that they’re insects. I once even bought some from a Thai grocery and cooked them myself just to see if I could. I’m not a great cook, so it wasn’t exactly a meal with four Michelin stars, but most of it wasn’t too bad. The longicorn beetle larvae tasted nutty and the ants tasted citrusy (I assume because of the formic acid). I didn’t like the giant water bug though. It did look like a massive cockroach, which didn’t help, but it also had a sort of juniper/gin flavor and I don’t like that flavor.
I’ve also had Oaxacan Mexican crickets in chili and lime. They used to sell them on street stalls near Dodger Stadium when I lived in L.A. Pretty good.
What’s funny is that people who don’t blink an eye at eating shrimp, crab or lobster can’t handle the idea of eating arthropods.
Insects can be farmed sustainably, they are high in protein and many other nutrients, and there’s really nothing wrong with their tastes unless you don’t like the same flavors in other foods.