Eating Bugs and other Creepy Crawlies

Stephen · 02-06-2012, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

I genuinely want to try deep fried stick insects. They are supposed to be delicious and we as a species eat a whole variety of food so why not?

LOL. I don't imagine being delicious would be a particularly advantageous trait to evolve.

Neapolitan · 02-07-2012, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

I genuinely want to try deep fried stick insects. They are supposed to be delicious and we as a species eat a whole variety of food so why not?

When you do you should make a video with Karl Pinkerton - have him watch you and make comments behind your back - it will go viral.

Guybrush · 02-07-2012, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazstp

That reminded me of a story a little while ago of a young child getting some form of meningitis after eating a slug or snail. Just Googled "slug brain damage" and this popped up.

Angiostrongylus Cantonensis

Ugh, I hate parasitic diseases

Glad they seem to be generally located on the other side of the planet from where I sit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

I genuinely want to try deep fried stick insects. They are supposed to be delicious and we as a species eat a whole variety of food so why not?

I bet those sedate vegetarians would be good

Me and my wife kept some as pets and my guess is they could make a good food source in the future. Generally speaking, the kinds one might keep as pets reproduce by cloning (parthenogenesis), so they don't even require sex to multiply.

**Janszoon** · 02-07-2012, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Me and my wife kept some as pets and my guess is they could make a good food source in the future. Generally speaking, the kinds one might keep as pets reproduce by cloning (parthenogenesis), so they don't even require sex to multiply.

Wow, that's weird! I didn't realize anything larger than a microorganism did that.

ilovethesun · 02-07-2012, 05:22 AM

Yikes! That scared me. Aren't insects supposed to be poisonous?

Howard the Duck · 02-07-2012, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovethesun

Yikes! That scared me. Aren't insects supposed to be poisonous?

not all of them

some are edible

Guybrush · 02-07-2012, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Wow, that's weird! I didn't realize anything larger than a microorganism did that.

Yes, I believe males have never been found for some of the species

It's definitely an interesting subject. Why did they evolve this way? I remember I had a lecture about a parasite which spread from mother to her female offspring before they were born. The same wouldn't work with males (from father to offspring) as children grow inside the mother and so for evolutionary reasons pertaining to the fitness of the parasite, the parasite evolved to influence its hosts' ratio of male and female births, making it so that the host insects birthed more females which would then carry the parasite. I don't know the story behind the evolution of stick insect parthenogenesis, but perhaps they too for much of their evolutionary history have been hosts to such a parasite.

Or maybe moving around is so dangerous for them, even for sex, that this form of reproduction is safer. Who knows?

I'm gonna have to see if I can find some litterature on the subject.

edit :

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovethesun

Yikes! That scared me. Aren't insects supposed to be poisonous?

Not generally. Many do have poison glands and stingers, but I can't think of an insect with poison that would kill you if you ate it.

Paedantic Basterd · 02-07-2012, 10:07 AM

I'm not sure if I could bring myself to do it, though I do get pretty adventurous when I travel and given the opportunity abroad I might do it.

Guybrush · 02-07-2012, 10:14 AM

If I came across a food stall selling bugs, I might be more concerned about the shopkeepers hygiene than the food he sells. Not because all foreigners are dirty, but part because I got food poisoning from eating a burger at the local kebab here last year .. It was a pretty unpleasant experience and since, I've been a lot more sceptical in regards to food preparation.

Paedantic Basterd · 02-07-2012, 10:17 AM

I had sushi from a food court in Edinburgh once, and spent the next day with food poisoning, and still went to Loch Ness anyways. I now tend to either prepare my food myself, or just eat stuff that's had the **** deep-fried out of it when I travel.

02-07-2012, 10:14 AM	#49 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	If I came across a food stall selling bugs, I might be more concerned about the shopkeepers hygiene than the food he sells. Not because all foreigners are dirty, but part because I got food poisoning from eating a burger at the local kebab here last year .. It was a pretty unpleasant experience and since, I've been a lot more sceptical in regards to food preparation. __________________ Something Completely Different

02-07-2012, 05:22 AM	#45 (permalink)
ilovethesun Groupie Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 0	Yikes! That scared me. Aren't insects supposed to be poisonous?

02-07-2012, 10:07 AM	#48 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	I'm not sure if I could bring myself to do it, though I do get pretty adventurous when I travel and given the opportunity abroad I might do it.

02-07-2012, 10:17 AM	#50 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	I had sushi from a food court in Edinburgh once, and spent the next day with food poisoning, and still went to Loch Ness anyways. I now tend to either prepare my food myself, or just eat stuff that's had the **** deep-fried out of it when I travel.