BUGS

[yon yonson]

i've been thinking lately about what a real paleo human would eat and i can't help but think that he must have eaten a lot of bugs. i just makes sense to me. they're easy to find, easy to capture, and are very nutrient dense. a perfect food really if you can get over the social conditioning against their consumption. i imagine bugs would be eaten as sort of a snack whenever they were come across. anyways, do any of you eat them regularly? i've eaten mealworms before and they werent bad, but i want to go out in the forest and try some grubs or something.

[TylerDurden]

Make sure that whatever the insects you eat are not too inedible otherwise you'll find the taste of insects to be foul. For example, I once tried to dine on maggots fed on wood-shavings - foul stuff.

Insects are difficult to get hold of in sufficient bulk, but they're rich in fats and protein. The Australian Aborigines used to eat lots of live, raw witchetty grubs as part of their ancestral diet. Insect-eating is very common in the developing world. There are lots of websites on entomophagy/bug-eating, such as :-


http://eat.bees.net/

(I wonder if edwin has ever eaten insects, I would imagine that the Phillipines would be the sort of area with insects as part of the diet?)

[goodsamaritan]

Traditionally and until today, Filipinos in the provinces eat certain bugs at certain seasons.  But they do cook them.

[magnetic]

I stumbled across some interesting pages on my quest to find out more about eating insects so that I can incorporate them into my diet.

http://insectsarefood.com/index.php

http://www.food-insects.com/Vol4%20no1.htm

I have come across articles claiming that insects are denser sources of omega-3 than grass-fed meat, but the articles referenced did not back up the claim, so I am still uncertain about it. But omega-3 is highest in the larvae of lepidoptera (butterflies & moths). I am curious about bee larvae also. I am having trouble finding good information online, if anyone comes across some good sources of information, please pass it along.

I am interested in harvesting wild insects. Ideas include obtaining bee larvae from wild hives, as well as "farming" larvae and grubs by methods similar to those used by people in Papua New Guinea who cut down the sago palm and return weeks later to collect the grubs feeding on the rotting material. I am curious if this could be replicated with trees native to the Americas.

I see suppliers of larvae such as mealworms online but I assume they are fed a diet of wheat, corn or soy and are probably the nutritional equivalent of grain-fed meat. They even take on the flavor of the grain that you feed them on.

[magnetic]

Here is a table from one of the above links that shows just how much omega-3 is in various species. As you can see, more than 20% is common for many lepidoptera, and one grasshopper species was found to have 43% of its fat as omega-3:

[Aaaaaa]

Mmm!  I want to try bugs, too!  I have heard grasshoppers are good...doesn't the Bible say that John the Baptist lived on locust and honey for awhile or something? ;-)
I tried a cooked mealworm once; it was good actually.  I wonder what would be the best/easiest to raise yourself?  I remember that video about a Primal diet guy said he raised some type of earthworms...and I believe you can feed them your compost, correct?  That would be a great way to get the most out of your fruits and veggies!

[Dorothy]

Magnetic - it is true that bugs are fed badly that you buy - but it is so easy and quick to get multiple generations fed on good food that producing your own supply is exceptionally easy and outrageously cheap. Just like most animals - what you feed them is what you get. If you want mealworms high in omega 3 fatty acids - raise them on flax seeds - like I feed my chickens to get eggs higher in omega 3s. I'm feeding some mealworms chia seeds. They like oats the most and oats are cheap so most mealworms are raised on oats in home culture - but it's not a good enough diet or varied enough if you ask me. If you want your bugs to have lots of calcium and minerals make sure to feed them some seaweed. If you want your crickets to be really high in nutrients - feed them organic greens from your garden or foraging and organic carrots for moisture. Do this for a few generations and you will have a strong colony of good stock. Worms that become moths take a little more effort. Superworms though are supposed to be quite nutritious - even more than wax worms that become moths.

[Dorothy]

Mmm!  I want to try bugs, too!  I have heard grasshoppers are good...doesn't the Bible say that John the Baptist lived on locust and honey for awhile or something? ;-)
I tried a cooked mealworm once; it was good actually.  I wonder what would be the best/easiest to raise yourself?  I remember that video about a Primal diet guy said he raised some type of earthworms...and I believe you can feed them your compost, correct?  That would be a great way to get the most out of your fruits and veggies!

I've raised red wiggler worms and night crawlers that eat garbage. Black soldier fly maggots I'm working on now. I've raised mealworms, superworms and wax worms (these are actually all pupae), crickets and a few other things.

They are all very easy to farm if you give it a little attention. Easier than growing an organic garden for instance.

Be careful foraging for bugs in the city or suburbs because of insecticides.

[personman]

I am interested in establishing a worm or insect farm on my land in Surrey bc. ANyone care to offer some recommendations for livestock and/or participate in the venture? I intend to use the crop for personal consumption as well as for commercial purposes.