I claim to be an omnivore, or as close to it as possible – so when I saw the notice for the Royal Dutch Embassy’s tasting and discussion on insects as a food source, I knew this was a chance to prove it. Besides, I was disappointed when this year’s promised cicada invasion didn’t manifest in my part of Maryland, as I had hoped that that would be my opportunity to experiment with the culinary possibilities of entomophagy. This event would be a perfect way to make up for it.
Members of the press were invited to watch as the insects were being cooked, so I arrived early and was escorted to a kitchen where several chefs (volunteer Embassy staff and two of the discussion panelists) were engaged in prepping a range of ingredients. These included the usual: asparagus, crepe batter, avocado, mealworms, crickets, cicadas…
Preparing Mealworm Crepes
Daniella And Her Apron
Yes, we were going to be treated to such tasty treats as mealworm crepes, cricket guacamole, and cicada-and-asparagus-on-a-stick!
Daniella On Camera
But first, we were challenged to try them straight – without any wimpy crutches such as pancakes or mashed avocado to disguise their insectivity. Many of us rose to the challenge.
My First Cricket – Crunchable and Tasty
Many more thought it would be really cute to record other folks eating bugs. This was also an opportunity to interview the entomophagists. Karina, an Embassy staffer, confided that she had a bug phobia, and thought that eating them would help to overcome it.
Dr. Raupp And Cicadas
Karina On Camera
Look! She’s Eating One!
Then it was time for the panel. Each of the three panelists had a different approach to eating insects: Dr. Marcel Dicke, Chair and Head of Department of the Laboratory of Entomology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, is co-author of the Dutch-language “Het Insectenkookboek” (“The Insect Cookbook”). He is championing the nascent insect-raising industry in the Netherlands as a protein source much more efficient than livestock, with the added advantage of no inter-species disease transmission.
He pointed out that there are 1900 different species of insects already being consumed worldwide. With a projected crisis in protein production coming because of increasing global population, insects could provide a perfect solution.
Daniella Martin, our head chef, spoke next. She is the host of GirlMeetsBug.com, an insect cooking and travel website, and bug blogger for The Huffington Post. She gave an anthropological perspective on entomophagy, from our earliest prosimian ancestors, through chimpanzees, to fossil evidence of early humans using bone tools to winkle termites out of their mounds.
Dr. Raupp, professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and host of BugoftheWeek.com (and whose name means caterpillar in German), finished up with an in-depth profile of cicadas. He prefers to eat them raw. In response to a question from the audience, he averred that adult cicadas would not have time to ingest enough insecticide to cause harm to anyone eating them. Drs. Raupp and Dicke disagree on this point, as the latter advocates farming insects for food, not foraging for them. A case of one man’s bug being another man’s poison?
Dr Dicke Speaks
A reception followed the panel session. Food was passed, both insect-laden and insect-free. It was fun to see folks challenging each other to eat the crickets and cicadas, just as the press had been challenged earlier. We old hands just laughed, and ate!
Cicada-On-A-Stick
I Dare You!
