You ever tried eating bugs? I've wanted to, but I can't bring myself to do it. My cousin, who has traveled extensively in South America, has had a bunch of different kinds, and actually has some not half bad things to say about some cicadas that he ate in Peru. Apparently the meat is somewhat similar to shrimp. Makes sense, I suppose, but my brain just won't let me do it. My disgust, it seems, is much stronger than my curiosity.
I think we can split the difference and agree they taste like formic acid. Except some of the big ones who taste like straw and Odorous house ants that taste like rancid butter.
Ever had lobster or shrimp? you've already eaten bugs.
Yes...but no. With lobster and shrimp, the gross innards and outer shell are removed and then the meat is cooked. That isn't the case with bugs and may be part of the reason I'm turned off by them. For the record, I'm not a huge fan of shrimp. I'll do clams and crab but I dislike the texture of shrimp. Fucking textures get me. I still don't eat bananas for that same reason.
As a cook and a New Englander I find that bothersomely inaccurate. I hate to blow your day, but lobster is always cooked alive and served 100% whole, unless the lobster meat is part of another dish (i.e. lobster salad, lobster mashed potatoes, etc), in which case somebody else tears it apart. Where I grew up, on the shoreline, digging in and dismantling the lobster is part of the experience. We gift each other expensive sets of tools designed solely for dismantling and eating a whole, cooked lobster. With shrimp and crayfish preparation can vary, but cooking whole isn't uncommon, although serving whole is.the gross innards and outer shell are removed and then the meat is cooked.
I've gone both diving and hoop netting to catch and then cook lobster myself. The first thing you do is take out the poop and that jazz. And then you cook. And then you rip in and pick and choose the pieces you eat. Same with shrimp. Watching a skilled person shell and devein the shrimp is one of the most brilliant things I've seen. Such speed and precision. My only point is that is a very different experience than having a bug picked up off the ground, fried, and served to you.
...well, arthropods. I'm not sure there's an official definition of "bug" but I think on the Venn diagram, there's lots of overlap with "insect" and "arachnid" and minor overlap with "crustacean" largely due to wood lice. Probably why we eat lobsters and shrimp but not these:
Moreton Bay Bugs are f'ing delicious. I had them fresh in Thailand and if they weren't $40/lb frozen before shipping, I'd eat them more often. I hear Mantis shrimp are also delicious. They're hell on reef tanks, too. You need a better picture, though. After all, we are talking about Genghis Khan bathed in sherbet.
Dang, that's expensive . . . Yeah, I saw that too (love The Oatmeal), I just figured I'd use a picture closer to how I first encountered them, which was basically these three drunk Vietnamese dudes we'd never seen before, pushing a plate of those things our way. Turns out, they were just being really friendly and offering us a delicacy! Deliciousness aside, those things are crazy.
I'd want someone else to eat it first. Dunno. Lobster doesn't exactly turn my crank, but I f'in love Spot Prawns which pretty much fill the same ecological niche. I see that much meat on the half shell that hasn't been chewed on and I presume there's a reason. Some critters just ain't good eatin' and I'm A-OK being the 2nd person to find that out.
Everybody knows somebody who'd take the first bite. My brother's friend Craig would do it.