That’s right.  I went to a bug eating festival last Sunday.  I unfortunately couldn’t stay very long, due to a prior commitment so I missed all the bug cooking and actual eating but I did get to eat something prepared with bugs.

Cookies! I ate chocolate chip cookies made with ground mealworms! (They were really salty but otherwise tasted like normal cookies.  In fact, they’re very similar to recipe my coworker brings in occasionally.) My objection to bug-eating is solely that I don’t like eating animals that look like animals, so the cookies were perfect!

This lady, however, was having none of the bug eating! (Don’t worry, the cookie was coming from a friend, not someone running the show.)

More mealworm-filled baked goods.  Apparently it adds a lot of protein to your sweets.

Separating out the good bugs from the bad.  People brought in insects they had caught around the house.

These are fresh wasps’ nests – caught safely, though there was dying little warrior who slipped in – and you can pick out the larvae and grill it.  The kids really got into this.

The guy who was leading a cooking.  Here, he’s lecturing on the health benefits about eating bugs. (And a warning: people allergic to dust, shellfish, and/or chocolate should stay away from insects.)

More wasp-collecting.

This is what a wasp larvae looks like, if you take it out of the nest with tweezers.  In case you were wondering.

I wish I’d be able to stick around for the actual cooking and eating! I might have even worked up the courage to eat a grasshopper leg – but probably not.  Insects are a staple in many cultures’ diets, though, and at least a couple of organizations are pushing to integrate them into more of the world’s diet to help combat world hunger. So, very cool!