13
votes
New Japanese vending machines sell only edible insects. The nine options include deep-fried or dried crickets, locusts, and silkworm chrysalises.
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- Title
- Japanese firm installs vending machine selling nothing but munchable insects - The Mainichi
- Word count
- 253 words
I've eaten most of them and when dried they're nice a crunchy and take on flavours well. Good protein too. Of course you need to get over the fact you're eating bugs but once you have they're good. Cool to see it become more accessible.
I'm not really sure what the point is. You can get those powdered meal replacements like soylent and the clones which contain very good nutrition, taste good enough, are very sustainable, and have no mental issues of eating bugs to get over (they are mostly powdered plant foods).
I don't think the general public would ever eat bugs over that option.
Soylent and the clones are heavily processed and there's close to no insight into the production process. I can see the bug as it was dried or fried, and that's enough that they probably don't have a ton of preservatives outside of salt, although I can't be certain with so little information.
I think there's a niche. I would definitely do it for the coolness factor alone.
I tried a grasshopper meal burger once. It was okay. A bit on the dry side.
I find it interesting how I can't bring myself to eat a whole insect, yet I find it very easy to shell and eat shrimp and other crustaceans.
I suppose we have an evolutionary aversion to everything that can become a pest, stealing or contaminating our food, transmitting disease, consuming crops, etc. So mostly creatures that live in dry land.
A friend of mine has a brilliant little Victorian book about eating insects, in which the author claims woodlice are very similar in taste to shrimp. I have not tested this personally..
Some seafood I have trouble looking at before I eat them. Cockles are one - as long as I don't look too hard they're very tasty.
Deep fried locusts with a little sweet soy sauce though. chef's kiss I could eat those all day.
Same here. I should have grabbed the cook and tell him to pair the burger with an avocado to moisten the thing up a bit.
I lived in Maine for seven years.
As a fisherman pointed out to me, "Lobsters are the cockroaches of the sea." Never stopped any of us from eating them.
Brood X cicadas are set to overrun the DC area within a week or two and there’s a lot of talk about the fact that they’re apparently delicious when cooked. I may have to try eating bugs.
A coworker brought some insect-based snack foods from Thailand. They tasted like sawdust. I think they were cricket, and it was like they didn't add any flavoring at all. It was just really dry and gross. I can get past eating a bug, but not when it tastes awful.
I will not eat the bugs, I will not drink the shit, and I will not live in the pod.
Jokes aside, the few times I've had bugs, it's all tasted like dirt. Not repulsive, just very earthy. I'm not a fan. Maybe I'll give these a try if I have a free day. Nagasaki isn't too far.