Are insects a meme or do they actually taste good?

I hear locusts suck.

They're too crunchy and get stuck in your teeth

Buffalo worms are a smaller species of darkling beetle larvae than the regular mealworms you see.
Phoenix worms are the larvae of Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly).
Very different things but both edible.

That pic was silkmoth pupae larvae btw.
This is bamboo worms (moth larvae).

I had the chance to buy some silkworm larvae from an Asian grocery store once.

Completely regret never picking it up

Would you eat a giant centipede

I would be willing to try everything on this site except the giant rhino beetles and the tarantulas.

If I ever do eat bugs that's what I'll try first. Those cocoons look delicious af, what are they seasoned with?

I'm not sure, I'm sure you could just make something up though.

It's a bit expensive on that page, though. The only other alternative is outside of EU, though, which would mean that i'd have to pay taxes, import fees and shipping

Yeah, I was going to order something from Germany once (I'm in the US) and the shipping and taxes were retarded, the item would have cost over twice as much.

Anyone actually tried eating a scorpion?

I thought their exoskeleton was tough as hell

if they sold them with bbq flavouring I'd eat the hell out of them

I'm pretty sure you can get BBQ flavored larvae

In my experience for most bugs the shell when boiled becomes soft like the legs of shrimp are (if you've ever bit into those), and fried they become crunchy. It would depend on the size though, as they get bigger I've sure the exoskeleton gets tougher.
I've never tried scorpion though.

Aren't you supposed to be able to eat them straight out of the bag, though

I thought you were talking about preparing and eating fresh ones.
Yeah the ones from the bag would probably just be crunchy, I've only had crickets from the bag. And you do eat them straight from the bag.

They are crunchy but not overly tough. I think the ones I had were fried, and it was crunchier than a soft shelled crab.

I've only tried them in lollipops

Probably my least favorite insect out of the three I've tried.

Maybe I should get something like this.

Salt and vinegar is great.

My sister actually got me a lollipop with a scorpion inside. I didn't know you were supposed to eat it, so I just had it lying around. Now it's all melted.

Crickets taste like mushy pistachios.
Its hard to get over the crunch of the bigger beetles, think soft shelled crab with gooey muck in the middle.
Idk but one of the grubs I had reminded me of aniseed, it wasn't great.

Havent tried anything else, we bought a mixed bag from a vendor in Thailand, wasn't great, I wouldn't actively seek them out, but I wouldn't mind them being in a dish.

Main complaint texture wise? There is no "stringyness" to them, its goopy insides unless its tiny enough to be just all fried nothingness.

>Mushy pistachios
Wait, what.
I thought crickets were like, dried

It was a fried wagon, it was a mixed back of fried bugs, so no drying. Treat this shit as meat, there are more then one way to cook them.

You having said that makes me think the dried versions would probably better for a western palate like mine, the mushiness is real... wrong

Will insects ever catch on in the US?
There's a lot of potential for them becoming a sustainable protein source since they're so easy to farm, but so far they're extremely expensive and rarely sold as more than a novelty.

I live in TN, when we get the cicadas every 13 and 17 years people collect, freeze, and cook them.

youtube.com/watch?v=jy5pBI8WvK8

I doubt they'll break into the mainstream. A huge majority of people are appalled by the thought of eating insects, and others would only eat the flavorless ones as a dare or something.
I saw on Veeky Forums that there was a company that sold cricket flour (just dry crickets crushed into powder) but it was ridiculoudly expensive. Probably won't really become cheaper until popularity leads to larger-scale farming operations.

too scared of parasites senpai

You're just as if not more likely to get parasites from regular meat.
If they're farmed the chance of getting parasites from them is essentially zero, even before cooking.
And horsehair worms don't parasitize vertebrates.

The ones you get in lollipops are leathery and bitter. Frying them might help, but they'd still be tough and flavorless.

Also, you never really think about bug feet until one breaks off and gets lodged in your throat

There's no fuckin meat on insects

I once ate Scrambled Eggs with Locusts and Mealworms and it was pretty decent desu

But i wouldn't eat Locusts again simply because of their barbed legs that sometimes are not properly removed, and if you swallow one of those it can get stuck in your throat.

had fried locusts at an australian pub once
came served on mashed potatos
tasted like absolutely nothing except frying oil

This is exactly my worries with insects

What's the point of eating them if they don't taste like anything

Yes user, insects are a meme. Honestly the whole animalia kingdom is very pretty much a meme.

Vegetarian detected

those were pretty tiny locusts i must add, so maybe what little flavor was in them simply got fried away.

maybe some big ass locusts like in the video of would serve as a better snack

Oh but vegetables are also a meme, and don't get me started on fungi, that's the biggest meme of them all.

fuck off fungifag, photosynthesis is the way to eat

I think those are Jainists

Plants need not apply

Bugbread sounds fun

you could always breed bugs for personal cooking.
it can't be that hard, expensive or timeconsuming

It would be pretty gross, though

Superworms and mealworms don't make any smell.
Just gotta wear a mask when cleaning them because if you inhale their poop (it's like dust) you will be able to smell it for some time.
But you only should have to clean every few months.

They're a very efficient way of growing protein.

4u?

Scorpion tastes like nori seaweed, you know that shit they use for sushi? I ate both raw, both of them are delicious.

I've had these, they're not bad.They're crisp and crunchy but not a lot of flavor besides what they're seasoned with. Kinda popcorn-like.

sounds alright

>you never really think about bug feet until one breaks off and gets lodged in your throat
just listen to yourself for a moment

Sure, why not.

Jains are pretty hardcore vegetarians. I seriously doubt they'd eat insects.

I've had silk worms
They have the texture of soggy croutons and taste like what hay seems like it'd taste like

Are they cleaned? Aren't bugs full of shit and carriers of viruses?

They taste great and also go into any dish pretty well and when we go into space, bugs will be the protein in our food.

If they've been living in the sewers, maybe. Bug viruses don't jump to humans since they're so different. That's why there's swine/bird flu but not cricket flu.
The viruses/parasites that get passed to humans usually had evolved to be passed from the bug to humans, like the kind mosquitoes can spread.
tl;dr: bugs aren't more likely to carry any of those things than anything else. Raised on farms it's a non-issue.

>meme or taste good
Food's fuel, fag. And insects are hella efficient fuel.