Edible insects from across the world…how daring are you?

Last week I read a story about school children in Harrogate tucking into meal worms. They were fed the little critters to raise awareness of National Insect Week and the fact that insects can be eaten. When I discussed this story with people many of them pulled a face at the thought of it. But why? This got me thinking about how many people in the UK would actually eat insects, and also what insects are available to eat here. My curiosity spurred me on to look into the subject further. This is especially as I read recently that almost €3 million has been invested in an EU project to promote eating insects so it’s a rather hot topic at the moment. I took to the internet and social media to help with my research and it seems there are a few people in our Twittersphere who have eaten insects, but not many of them.

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The idea of eating insects doesn’t worry me too much as I have had them in the past. My most favourite example is the scorpion, which I tried at a night market in China. A lot of people liken food they’ve tried to chicken but this isn’t something I can do. Aside from the fact that the scorpion doesn’t have much meat on it, it was so deep fried that it was just like a big crisp on a stick. It had no real flavour – it was just crunchy. As well as scorpions, there was a whole list of other bugs on the menu but then China and many other Asian countries are known for their wild cuisine. African and Latin American countries are also renowned for tucking into grubs, as are Australians. It seems that everyone else is doing it so why are the UK so against it?

Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Having looked across a range of sources the lists of edible insects are almost never ending. There are loads of critters that can be tucked into, although in the UK it seems we have to import most of them. Either the insects are not native to this country or, if they are, they are just too tiny. Our little bugs wouldn’t feed a mouse let alone a human, so is this one of the reasons why edible insects aren’t so popular here? Or is it because we’ve always been brought up to associate creepy crawlies with being wriggly, dirty and a little bit scary?

Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Perhaps we should be more open to eating them. Here is a list of just some of the insects across the world that can be eaten. Do you fancy any of them or have you tried any of them? If so, let us know. We’d love to hear all about them. Perhaps we should add start doing insect toppings on our pizzas*…you can’t get much more organic than that!

• Agave worm (Mexico)
• Ants
• Honeypot ants (Australia)
• Leafcutter ants (South American – especially Colombia)
• Lemon ants (Amazon)
• Flying Ant: Guatemala
• Bee (China)
• Beetle
• Dung beetle
• Rhino beetle
• Water beetle (China)
• Butterfly
• Caterpillar
• Centipede (China)
• Cicada (Japan, Thailand, Malaysia)
• Cockroach (Madagascar)
• Cricket (Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia)
• Dragonfly (Indonesia, China)
• Earthworm (Venezuela)
• Fly pupae
• Grasshopper (Mexico)
• Nsenene (Uganda)
• Locust
• Louse
• Moth
• Midge fly (East Africa)
• Pill-bug
• Sago grubs (Malaysia, Indonesia)
• Slug
• Scorpion (Thailand, China)
• Tarantula (Cambodia)
• Termite (Kenya)
• Wasp (Japan)
• Water Bug (Thailand)
• Wichetty grub (Australia)
• Worm
• Bamboo worm: Thailand
• Chiro worm (Peru)
• Hornworm
• Mealworm (China)
• Mopane worm (Botswana)
• Palm worm (Uganda)
• Silkworm (Korea)
• Waxworm
• Zaza-mushi (Japan)

Peace, love and insect pizza (?!)

What On Earth

*Disclaimer – obviously we mean that we would add the insects