Who intentionally eats bugs?

[Robinlove]

I'd like to get, say, cricket flour, but we'll... I doubt it's raw. Anyone know.of a raw big flour? Do I have to breed and kill and dehydrate and grind myself? Yick.

[Robinlove]

Well... In all honesty, I might as well with meal worms, since I will be breeding them for a different science project I'm doing... So if they test clean after I feed them what i feed them, I might as well eat them. Right?! Waste not?!

This bird will be eating worms. Bwwaahahahahahahahahhahahaha

[Projectile Vomit]

I eat insects. Most commonly I catch grasshoppers and crickets in the wild, adjacent to certified organic farm fields. I sometimes buy frozen organic crickets from Tomorrow's Harvest.

[Robinlove]

Oh nice suggestions!! Thanks a bunch!! I love this group!!! YAY!!!!

[surfsteve]

This should be an interesting thread. I love this group too. It has become my favorite forum!

What go grasshoppers taste like? Do you eat them whole or live or do you prepare them? Are they crunchy?

I would think that insects are one of the truest original paleo foods around.

[Projectile Vomit]

Grasshoppers taste much like whatever they've been eating. I prefer eating them whole and live. I usually gather them while gathering other wild edibles, so basically eat them as I catch them. Land to mouth, so to speak. How crunchy they are depends on what life stage they're in. If you eat the earlier instar stages, they are softer. If you eat the adults with fully developed wings, their exoskeletons are also mature so they are a bit crunchy. Not the most tasty thing in the world, but certainly no off-putting either.

I suspect that insects were probably hominin's gateway animal food, that is they were the animal food we began eating that initiated the many physiological changes that drew us away from a largely herbivorous diet as was seen in other great apes and towards the more omnivorous diet humans seem to thrive on today. It's a shame so many people find insects so disagreeable. I hope to interview the owner of Tomorrow's Harvest on my podcast sometime soon. He's done a lot of research into this area.

[surfsteve]

Yeah. My guess would be that insects and occasional small animals were the only kind of flesh man ate raw on a regular basis that was still fresh. Oh wait probably seafood too. I bet that even if they could catch large animals the flesh would go bad after the first day but more times than not they either had to wait till whatever killed it was done eating it and it was rotten or they had fresh meat for a day and then rotten leftovers for the rest of the month. My guess would be by then the maggots eating the flesh tasted better than the flesh it's self.

[RogueFarmer]

Meat doesn't usually go rotten in one day except when it's hot out.

I've never had any issue with bugs, been eating them since I was a child.

I remember my cousin offered to pay me 5 bucks for a cicada I had just snatched out of the air. Little did he know I had caught it with the intention of eating it.

[surfsteve]

Grasshoppers taste much like whatever they've been eating.

This got me thinking. Could it be that the reason I like to put lots of spices on my meat is because cows and livestock are fed such bland diets? Maybe if they fed the spices to the animals the meat would taste better and wouldn't need them!

[surfsteve]

Meat doesn't usually go rotten in one day except when it's hot out.

I've never had any issue with bugs, been eating them since I was a child.

I remember hiking on a hot day in the mountains and I had some hot dogs (Haven't had one of those in years!) in my black back pack at the very top and they had developed a sour spoiled taste in less than 6 hours. I guess there are varying degrees of rotten with spoiled being the first stage.

[RogueFarmer]

It's my opinion really good meat is decidedly sweet tasting. Like fresh venison.

[Robinlove]

I haven't eaten bugs yet, really. Im easing in cuz I don't want to feel stupid if I puke. Foraged a ton of elberberries today and left the bugs in. Ate some wee bugs in pollen I separated from some foraged elderberry flowers yesterday... Stuff like that at this point. I could do the crickets and grasshoppers if they are already dead. I really do have that subconcious eww factor and I don't like it. I feel like a big ole baby. That's super awesome about cathing bugs and just eating them whole. Man. Im.such a baby.... Stupid concrete hell! You have ruined me! I want to do more human things. Bring on the bugs! Ok. Baby steps 😀

[TylerDurden]

I  have eaten cooked grasshoppers but never liked raw insects but have not tried more than the larvae of flies. I am psychologically prone to disgust unfortunately. Strange, I can eat some types of high-meat and enjoy the taste but some RPD foods are still closed to me. I have some RPD schemes to pursue first such as the wim hof method but afterwards...; (I always think it is a good idea to keep experimlenting with health-methods whether food or otherwise, as palaeo humans had a far greater variety of raw foods available to them, and did things not found much in modern times, such as huge amounts of exercise etc.