16 votes

Tastes like chicken? Think again—edible ants have distinctive flavor profiles.

10 comments

  1. [8]
    pete_the_paper_boat
    Link
    I'm curious, how many here just don't vibe with the idea of eating rodents and bugs? I don't. This stuff just isn't for me dawg. I'm not that adventurous, I've yet to try plenty of already...

    I'm curious, how many here just don't vibe with the idea of eating rodents and bugs?

    I don't. This stuff just isn't for me dawg. I'm not that adventurous, I've yet to try plenty of already established dishes..

    7 votes
    1. hexagonsun
      Link Parent
      As long as it doesn't look like the actual bugs, I'm fine to try it. For vegetarians, especially those from birth, it seems like the physical association to the actual animal grosses them out. But...

      As long as it doesn't look like the actual bugs, I'm fine to try it.

      For vegetarians, especially those from birth, it seems like the physical association to the actual animal grosses them out. But I've met folks who were vegetarian all their life, who have tasted meat and then picked it up because it didn't look like meat.

      9 votes
    2. [5]
      UP8
      Link Parent
      Chocolate covered crickets are great. Also mealworm flower is a fine ingredient… There is a reason they call them “mealworms” though I have gotten Japanese beetles in my mouth more than once and...

      Chocolate covered crickets are great. Also mealworm flower is a fine ingredient… There is a reason they call them “mealworms” though I have gotten Japanese beetles in my mouth more than once and all I can say about that is “Yuck!”

      7 votes
      1. [4]
        Habituallytired
        Link Parent
        I think I would be perfectly ok using the bugs as a flour ingredient. I just don't think I could eat a whole bug, just yet. Idk what the difference in my mind is between an ant and a shrimp, but I...

        I think I would be perfectly ok using the bugs as a flour ingredient. I just don't think I could eat a whole bug, just yet. Idk what the difference in my mind is between an ant and a shrimp, but I would have to unlearn something.

        4 votes
        1. [2]
          Omnicrola
          Link Parent
          I think it's mostly this. It's mostly exposure and normalization. Personally, I enjoy meats of all kinds. But show me a dead farm animal in any state, or show me the animal's face and I get very...

          I think it's mostly this. It's mostly exposure and normalization.

          Personally, I enjoy meats of all kinds. But show me a dead farm animal in any state, or show me the animal's face and I get very uncomfortable. I already know these things are the same thing, but I have an emotional response to one and not the other because I've seen one a lot more.

          Same for insects. My entire life the reaction to any given insect has either been "eww" or at the very least "dangit, how did that get inside". Never "I wonder if that's edible". So asking my brain to accept it as food is much harder than trying something that I've never seen before.

          7 votes
          1. Minori
            Link Parent
            My wife has the exact same thing. Her rule is she won't eat anything that's looking at her, so she's totally opposed to food like head-on shrimp or even whole fish. I, on the other hand, love...

            My wife has the exact same thing. Her rule is she won't eat anything that's looking at her, so she's totally opposed to food like head-on shrimp or even whole fish. I, on the other hand, love fresh food and wouldn't have any issue with a suckling pig or the like.

            Definitely has a lot to do with how you grow up too. Growing up around family farms that named their prized sheep things like meatball and mutton gave me a different perspective!

            1 vote
        2. TheRtRevKaiser
          Link Parent
          I've eaten insects a couple of times, and I haven't really found a preparation that I like. People always say "shrimps is bugs" but the difference is that you peel and devein shrimp, but you don't...

          I've eaten insects a couple of times, and I haven't really found a preparation that I like. People always say "shrimps is bugs" but the difference is that you peel and devein shrimp, but you don't (or maybe can't?) peel a grasshopper, so you get all that exoskeleton and legs and stuff and it's just really not a pleasant texture for me. Maybe if you grow up with it then it wouldn't be a problem but I have a hard time getting past it.

          3 votes
    3. gpl
      Link Parent
      I ate ants at summer camp as a kid and I remember they distinctly tasted lemony. You can pull on the head and it comes off along with the guts, and then you can eat the body (realizing how gross...

      I ate ants at summer camp as a kid and I remember they distinctly tasted lemony. You can pull on the head and it comes off along with the guts, and then you can eat the body (realizing how gross that sounds after I type it out, but in my defense I was like 12). I'd be open to incorporating them into my diet, but I think I would prefer them in a form where it was not obviously bugs. That being said, I could see nice crispy, spicy fried bugs being very moreish.

      2 votes
  2. [2]
    Omnicrola
    Link
    I'm currently amused by the thought experiment of if humans had been way more into eating ants for the last 1000 years, what weird subspecies would we have ended up with as a result of breeding...

    "It’s also very important for us to collaborate with chefs, with the culinary experts, to develop different recipes with these different insects," said Liu. "There’s a lot of things we need to pay attention to. What kind of foods can these insects be paired [with] to best bring out their flavors?

    I'm currently amused by the thought experiment of if humans had been way more into eating ants for the last 1000 years, what weird subspecies would we have ended up with as a result of breeding them for specific flavors?

    7 votes
    1. MimicSquid
      Link Parent
      Tangy ants? Absolutely, they're already that way naturally. Sweet candy ants? Almost certainly. Spicy ants? Easy enough. Probably multiple types of each for different palates.

      Tangy ants? Absolutely, they're already that way naturally. Sweet candy ants? Almost certainly. Spicy ants? Easy enough. Probably multiple types of each for different palates.

      4 votes