Thursday, August 07, 2014

Author #122: Man Eating Bugs with Peter Menzel

Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusio.  The cover features a girl enjoying a deep-fried tarantula in Cambodia

Descriptions for pictures below (all food as described by Mr. Menzel): Traveling from Australia (top left clockwise) with witchetty grubs which are roasted in a fire and taste like "nut-flavored scrambled eggs and mild mozzarella, wrapped up in a phyllo dough pastry" to China with black water beetles marinated in ginger and soy sauce with an orange carrot flower garnish that you eat like a lobster or crab-breaking open the exoskeleton and "sucking out the white insides" to the picture just below on the right with the three scorpions (also from China) that are sauteed and taste a little like eating a twig.  Under the scorpions on the right is a stink bug pate from Mexico that is spiced with oregano and marjoram among other things and below the stink bug pate is a handful of mushi, the larvae of aquatic caddis flies, from Japan that will be boiled and then sauteed with soy sauce and sugar and will end up tasting like the soy sauce and sugar.  On the spoon are stir-fried weaver ants from Cambodia and finally, above the ants, is a fire-roasted tarantula from Venezeula which is the size of a dinner plate.  The Theraphosa leblondi  tarantulas actually have muscles and not just goo inside their legs and according to Mr. Menzel, taste like smoky crab after being roasted for about 7 minutes.
Although it was an engrossing book, I still don't think I want to change my western diet anytime soon.  The book was full of stories of the different cultures and bugs and other delicacies that they tried on their journeys along with many more pictures.    

No comments:

Sunday Randomness #130 : Utah State Fair 2024

  So many wonderful displays of crafts, foods, animals, etc...