Is it okay to eat insects. Edible insects - basic rules for eating insects

What insects can you eat v Middle lane I have collected the most common types of insects that you can eat if you are in survival conditions

Black forest ants and their larvae

In the forest, you can often find anthills, and ants live in them. Ants are an excellent food for a starving survivalist. They are high in protein. Ants contain formic acid, which is easily, almost completely neutralized during heat treatment (cooking). Ginger ants are very sour (they have a lot of formic acid).

How to cook:

• Ant broth
• Frying ants
• Eat raw

Ant eggs

Ant eggs are light food and very easy to collect. They are very nutritious and high in protein. There is one easy way to collect ant eggs.

From the side (or at least from above) we dig in the anthill. Sprinkle the contents of the anthill on the fabric (you can use an awning or a jacket), wrap the edges, be sure to spread (fabric, jacket) so that direct sunlight falls on it. In order to avoid drying out the eggs and larvae, the ants begin to drag them into the shade (under the curls of fabric, jackets). Thus, we get a lot of nutritious and clean (without soil and debris) product.

Woodworm Beetle Larva

A very easily obtainable food and very nutritious - the larva of the woodworm beetle. It is not difficult to get it by tearing off the bark of a rotten tree, or simply digging open the carpenter's passages and pulling out a juicy white larva. The larvae feed on wood, so they can be eaten raw, baked, fried, boiled ...

Grasshoppers and locusts

V summer season grasshoppers can be found in the fields and meadows, which can also be eaten. Grasshoppers can be fried over a fire, strung on a stick, or deep-fried (boiling oil). Pre-seasoned well with spices and salt.

Locust

The locusts are similar to the grasshopper, but much larger than him. close relative grasshopper.

According to the Book of Leviticus (11:22), four types of insects were recognized as acceptable in the diet of the ancient Israelites: “... eat these of them: locust with its species, solam (a kind of locust) with its breed, hargol (beetle) with its breed and hagab ( grasshopper) with her breed. The Gospel of Matthew (3.4) says that John the Baptist in the wilderness ate acrida and wild honey in the wilderness. Akrids are known to be several species of true locusts found in the Middle East and North Africa.

Carlton Coon's book "The Hunting Man" tells how the Indians caught locusts. They dug a trench and stuffed it with dry grass, which the locusts feed on, then drove the locusts into the trench with sticks, set fire to the grass in the trenches, roasted the locusts, and the villagers gathered ready-made locusts and fried locusts. carried away.

The pioneers of America also prepared locusts. They boiled it in salted water and then fried it in butter with vegetables and vinegar.

During the summer months, the Indians of California consume large quantities of locusts. They soak these insects in salt water, then bake them in clay ovens, then grind them and add them to soups.

In Africa, locusts are very fond of, they eat them raw, cook on stones or an open fire. In Japan, locusts are marinated in soy sauce and fried. In Asia, they are fried in oil. In Taiwan, locusts are a delicacy that is served even in the most expensive restaurants. Locusts are very nutritious and contain 50 percent protein (more than beef), as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins B2 and niacin (niacin - vitamin PP)

How to cook locusts?

Before cooking, the locusts should be boiled, legs and wings removed, then fried in oil. According to some gourmets, locusts taste like crayfish.

Dragonfly

Dragonflies can also be eaten if you first tear off their wings and fry, then it will turn out quite well. In Bali, for example, dragonflies are considered a delicacy. They even manage to cook sweets from them, having previously fried them in boiling coconut oil and sprinkled with sugar. Dragonflies are also boiled.

Earthworms

Absolutely tasteless, but at the same time nutritious enough, and it is not difficult to get them. The worms can be eaten raw after removing the dirt. Some craftsmen even manage to make cutlets from worms. Worms can also be baked.

Crickets

Crickets live in burrows. To get a cricket, we fill its mink with water, and it will come out on its own. We catch it, and then at least fry it, even boil it, even bake it on the fire

What kind of insects can you eat in extreme conditions?

It turns out that there are about 1462 species of edible insects on our planet. Yes, such a variety, probably, and in your entire life you will not try. And I also learned that insects contain more protein than chicken meat, as well as a lot of iron, magnesium and other equally useful elements. Nevertheless, this nutritious living creature does not make me feel appetite personally anyway.)

But still, if you are going to travel to distant countries and want to try local exotic dishes, I present to your attention the top of the twelve most delicious dishes made from edible insects.

In Thailand, a plate of bamboo worms fried in oil is considered quite a traditional dinner. In reality, these are not worms at all, but the larvae of the grass moth that lives in bamboo. They were usually harvested by cutting off bamboo stalks, but today they are raised on farms and eventually packaged in bags, just like chips.

A very popular village food in Eastern Indonesia is the longhorn beetle larvae that live in the roots of sago palms (by the way, these large and shiny beetles are quite common in Russia). Indonesians string beetles on rods and roast them over a fire. And the locals also use them as a brush for the ears - they put a live larva in the ear, holding it by the tail with their fingers, and it very quickly eats the ear wax.

Sardinia is famous for its rotten cheese with worms - Casu marzu. It is made from goat milk with real cheese fly larvae. First cut off the cheese upper layer so that the fly has the opportunity to lay its eggs in it. The larvae that appear gradually eat the cheese from the inside, and the acid released from them decomposes the fats in the cheese, thereby giving it a specific softness. The most interesting thing is that casu marzu can be eaten only when the larvae are still alive. And one more funny moment - larvae with a centimeter in length can jump out of the cheese mass to a height of fifteen centimeters. There were cases when the larva jumped right into the eye of the taster, so they eat cheese with glasses or spread it on bread, covering it with their hand.

For South Africans, the most important source of protein is the dried caterpillars of the moth, a South African peacock-eye species that lives on the mopane tree. What is not done in Africa from these caterpillars: they are dried, smoked, pickled and rolled up in cans. And the preparation of mopane caterpillars is very simple: first, the green intestines are squeezed out, then they are boiled in salted water and finally dried. They are usually stewed in a variety of sauces, added to stews, fried with onions until crisp, or served with corn porridge.

In Japan, the older generation still respects wasps and bees, from which a wide variety of dishes are prepared there. One of these dishes is hachinooko - boiled bee larvae in soy sauce with sugar. The result is a caramel-like, translucent mass, which is served with rice. The Japanese were reminded of the post-war years by dzibachinoko - a dish made from wasps (during this period, bees and wasps in Japan, especially ate actively). Today, these dishes can only be tasted in Nogano.

Slightly more common are fried wasps, which are served with beer in taverns in Japan.

The city of Suzhou (China) is famous for its delicacy from silkworm pupae. Caterpillars wrap themselves with a strong, thin silk thread, thereby forming a cocoon. Before they have wings and legs in their cocoon, the people of Suzhou boil the caterpillars and remove the cocoon, then quickly fry them in a wok with ginger, onions and garlic. When cooked correctly, silkworm meat tastes like shrimp or crab meat. This dish is also popular in Japan and Korea.

After grasshoppers, ants are considered the most popular edible insects on Earth. And in some countries, for example, in Colombia, you can simply buy them at the cinema instead of popcorn. The most delicious for Colombians are female ants with eggs. This "delicacy" is caught in the rain, when the females get to the surface from the anthill flooded with water.

The easiest rustic cooking option is ants wrapped in leaves and lightly held over a fire. However, the most delicious are the so-called "honey" ants, common in Australia. These insects collect sweet nectar and carry it in the swollen goiter of the abdomen. It is this transparent bubble that is considered the best sweet delicacy among Australian aborigines.

Large water bugs can be found in different corners our planet. These insects, belonging to the Belostomatidae family, grow up to 15 centimeters long. And if Americans consider them to be ordinary bedbugs, the bites of which do not go away for several weeks, then Asians eat them with pleasure. For example, Thais are deep-fried bedbugs and sold on the table along with a creamy sauce. However, they eat them whole compared to the Filipinos, who still tear off their wings and legs. Here is such different culture eating.)

Grasshoppers - almost the National dish Mexicans. In Mexico, they are boiled, fried, dried, soaked in lime juice, or eaten raw. But the most popular dish is guacamole with grasshoppers. The insects are fried very quickly, after which they change their green color to red, then they are mixed with an avocado and spread on a corn tortilla.

In general, grasshoppers are eaten in all camps where insects are eaten. In the Middle East, they like to boil grasshoppers first and then dry them in the sun, in China they prefer to make kebabs out of them, in Uganda they use them as an addition to soups. By the way, until recently, women in Uganda were not allowed to eat grasshoppers, as it was believed that they could give birth to children with a deformed head like a grasshopper.

They love to eat dragonflies in Bali. Catching a dragonfly is actually not so easy. For this, the locals use special sticks smeared with enough sticky tree sap. But the most difficult moment is to touch the dragonfly with a smooth and at the same time quick movement. Caught large specimens are cut off their wings, and then boiled in coconut milk with garlic and ginger in quick order, or fried on the grill. They also make something similar to candy canes - fried in coconut oil and sprinkled with sugar on top.

Herb bugs are prized in Mexico for their specific, strong, medicinal odor. Mexicans make sauces from them, mix with chicken pate, pre-fry, or add to tacos. V South Africa less preferably refer to unpleasant odor shpitnikov, and in order to get rid of it, the bugs are first soaked for a long time, then dried and gnawed.

A fairly common street food in Cambodia is fried tarantulas, which look more like charred lacquered embers. They are fried in a wok with garlic and salt. In Venezuela, large tarantulas (28 cm across) are simply baked over coals. But the most delicious are spiders from the Nephilidae family, which are eaten in Laos and New Guinea. When deep fried, they taste like peanut butter.

Once in China, we were invited to dinner. The table was lined with different dishes, I counted about 20 of them. Among other purely Chinese dishes, there was a dish of fried snake with various spices, small fried shrimps (1.5-2 cm in size) and grasshoppers.

According to etiquette, as my husband whispered to me, I had to try every dish. I even shuddered at this message, watched in horror as it was spinning round table and a dish of unpeeled shrimp "floats up" to me. I grabbed one of them with my chopsticks.

The crustacean did not change at all and looked quite natural, everything was in place: legs, tail (fan), whiskers - antennae and bulging eyes. I carefully began to pluck off my mustache, but looking up I saw that the owners were looking at me expectantly. Overpowering unpleasant sensation to this crustacean, I had to put it in my mouth, along with the legs and mustache ... and swallowing, also smile.

The Chinese sat and cracked the crustaceans like seeds, only the crunch was there. In another circle of rotation of the table, a dish with grasshoppers stopped in front of me. I don't even want to describe the sensations that I experienced, but I still had to eat one representative of insects ... Today, a conversation about edible insects:

1. Entomoga is insect food.
2. How do people benefit from eating edible insects?
3. Edible insects.
4. Dishes made from edible insects.
5. Insect dessert.

Entomography - food from insects

The practice of including edible insects in the diet and eating insects is common in many parts of the world and the reason is their most valuable nutritional value. Scientists believe that there are already 2 billion people on our planet that feed on insects.

In the first place in terms of nutritional value are beetles, then - caterpillars, ants, wasps, bees, locusts and grasshoppers, crickets and tarantulas. 1900 species of the insect class are considered edible.

The inclusion of insects in the diet and eating insects is called entomophagy. It is especially practiced in Africa, China, New Zealand and Australia, in not developed countries ah America. Insects are eaten in 29 Asian countries, 36 African and 23 American. Somewhere they are considered a delicacy, but somewhere, edible insects are the main diet of food.

In most developed countries, people are disgusted with eating insects and consider it a primitive culture. Meanwhile, according to scientists, insects contain a large amount of protein, calcium, iron, low fat content and they are as nutritious and healthy as regular meat, but they can be effective method fight obesity and diseases associated with it.

More and more often, the question is raised, instead of switching to genetically modified food, from which there is more harm than good, it can be switched to entomoga ???

Not from a good life, Africans eat insects, in their countries people have long been suffering from malnutrition, experts note that 50% of child mortality under the age of 5 in these countries occurs only for this reason.

And insects are a cheap food source rich in healthy proteins and fats. According to ecologists, growing insects causes much less damage to nature than raising cattle. Nutritional composition, availability, simple methods Insect farming can provide a food alternative and help address future food shortages.

Indeed, the population by 2050 will increase to 9 billion people. This means that 50% more food will be needed, and according to projections, as a result of climate change, a 25% decrease in yields is expected.

Where to look alternative methods satisfying a person's need for food?

Why don't we like insect food?

It all depends on the culture of education. We were raised that way by our parents and the media. From early childhood, we hear what is edible and what cannot be eaten. If from childhood we knew that there are edible insects and we were treated to delicacies from fried grasshoppers, we would think that there is nothing better in the world and eating insects would be considered commonplace.

Insects in food. Nevertheless, insects still enter our stomach. It is believed that a person eats up to 0.5 kg of insects throughout his life.

According to Igor Bernikov, candidate of biological sciences, together with bread we eat flour worms, with jams and preserves, tomato paste, worms and their larvae also enter our stomach.

Culinary experts are familiar with the "conishel" dye (E-120), but meanwhile, it is prepared from the females of the insect of the same name - the conishel worm.

I heard that some beekeepers feast on bee larvae, which have a delicate creamy taste.

How do people benefit from eating insects?

I want to give you numbers showing the content of proteins and fats in various edible insects.

“So 100 grams of dung beetles contains 17.2 g of proteins and 3.8 g of fat, caterpillars - 14.2 g and 1.2 g, in grasshoppers - 20.6 g and 6.1 g, bees - 13, 4 g and 1.4 g, termites - 14.2 g and 2.2 g, respectively. For comparison, I will give an example of the content of these substances in 100 g of beef: 23.5 g of protein and 21.2 g of fat. "

In addition, insects contain chitin, which brings irreplaceable benefits in cleansing the body. Chitin is known to produce the substance chitosan, which is included in all drugs for weight loss.

In 2010, at the Space Exploration Congress, Japanese scientists presented an updated diet for astronauts, which includes insects.

In some countries, such as Thailand, edible insects are bred commercially. It is believed to be less labor intensive and costly to manufacture. Insects eat very little, compared to pigs, it is not required large rooms for their content. Scientists suggest that in the future, the main food producers in this country will be farms producing edible insects.

I bring to your attention an acquaintance with the most popular edible insects and dishes from them, which are considered delicacies.

Edible insects

Beetles. Of this order of insects, the following are considered edible: dung beetles, stag beetle, rhinoceros beetle. These insects are a delicacy for the natives of Africa and some areas in the Amazon River basin and other tropical regions. Rogac beetles and rhinos live in trees, eroding their bark. They easily process cellulose fibers, converting them into fats. The indigenous people roast them and consume them like popcorn.

Barbel beetle larvae are eaten raw and taste like peanut butter.

Moths and butterflies. Insects themselves are very beautiful, but not the butterflies themselves are used for food, but their larvae - pupae, rich in protein and iron.

Butterfly pupae are considered a delicacy, they are recommended for weakened children and pregnant women suffering from anemia. In America, its Central South regions, caterpillars of butterflies are also prized, especially the fat and fleshy caterpillars of the butterfly that lives on agave trees. These caterpillars are added to an alcoholic drink made from agave, a favorite of the Mexicans.

Bees and wasps. The larvae of these hymenoptera insects and their eggs are loved by the indigenous people of Australia, Africa, Asia. America and consume them like nuts.

Ants. Mostly red ants, which are large in size, are eaten, but other representatives of this order are often used as well. There are about 1,000 individuals in 100 g of red ants, which contain 14 g of protein (this is much more than chicken eggs), 48 mg of calcium, iron and other minerals.

Locusts, grasshoppers, crickets. Orthoptera have a neutral taste and protein content, which is why they are very popular in the cuisine of many countries. They can be combined with other foods. The use of locusts for food allows you to control their numbers, everyone knows what harm these insects cause to agriculture.

Flies and mosquitoes have less culinary popularity. Of their numerous order of Diptera, only a few representatives go for food. For example, flies that feed on cheeses, acquire their taste, and species of mosquitoes and flies living near the water taste like fish.

Rowing boats. These insects are inextricably linked with water, as they lay their eggs on plants growing in the water. The natives collect insect eggs to prepare Mexican caviar, and they also eat them raw. Eggs taste like shrimp.

Shields Are representatives of the bedbug family. They are an excellent source of iodine and if you ignore them unpleasant smell secreted by special glands, you can get apple cider vinegar from them. They also have pain-relieving properties. Green tree bugs that feed on leaf sap are used for food.

Insect dishes

Cheese with worms... It is called kazu-marzu and is made from goat's milk and cheese fly larvae. This product can only be found in Sardinia, in Italy it was banned, since it is believed that it can be poisoned. Worms made from rotten cheese are eaten alive.

Boiled bee larvae. The dish is called hatinoko in Japan. The larvae are cooked in a sweet soy sauce that is paired with rice. The dish was especially popular in the difficult post-war times, and now it continues to be in demand.

One more bee delicacy can be found in shops in Japan - canned bees.

Grilled dragonflies. This dish is popular in Indonesia. The dragonflies are caught with sticks smeared with sticky juice, the wings are removed and fried or boiled in spiced coconut milk.

Fried red ants salad. Fried red ants are added to salads instead of lemon juice and lemon, because they are acidic (formic acid). They are eaten with pleasure in Thailand.

Fried tarantulas preferred in Cambodia. They are fried in pans and eaten with pleasure; their meat tastes like fish and chicken. They also eat fried spiders, which taste like peanuts.

Fried bushbugs are loved in Mexico. They taste like cinnamon. They are ground and mixed with chili sauce or used as a filling.

Rich in protein, chitin, calcium and minerals, edible insects are an essential part of the diet in many cultures.

Today, restaurants are opening in European countries, serving gourmet dishes from:

• Orthoptera,
• hymenoptera,
• Orthoptera,
• lepidoptera,
• bedbugs,
• cockroaches,
• termites.

So far, this is only a modern, fashionable hobby, but already in demand.

A sample menu of such establishments:

Insect dessert

Believe it or not, it really is. The man is so enterprising that he learned to make dessert out of insects. Speaking of desserts ... the Bible says that John the Baptist loved to feast on "locusts with wild honey." Our contemporaries have gone further, they offer insect dessert:

In many countries, such desserts are in great demand. Experts assure that they are not only tasty, but also beneficial for health, as they add energy and strengthen the immune system. And the desserts look exotic.

Restaurant visitors, when trying insects for the first time, are more likely to choose dishes where they are used as a filling, for example, a cricket in chocolate glaze is easier to eat than a fried cockroach.

Several years ago, in the center of London, right on the street, there was a restaurant that offered visitors to taste unusual insect delicacies for free. In such an unusual way one of the companies celebrated its 85th anniversary. The stream of people wishing to taste exotic dishes was endless.

The event discussed possible global hunger and the usefulness of insects as food alternatives for humans.

Anticipating the reaction of readers, I would like to note that the article is offered not for the purpose of promoting insect eating, but as a cognitive material.

• But what is really useful for us, read.

Health to you, dear readers!

☀ ☀ ☀

The blog articles use pictures from open sources on the Internet. If you, suddenly, see your author's photo, inform the editor of the blog about it through the form. The photo will be removed, or a link to your resource will be placed. Thank you for understanding!

I'm going to ruin my appetite. The faint of heart and hungry are better off not looking.

Entomophagy (Entomophagy) - the phenomenon of eating insects, inherent in many living things (birds, reptiles, insects themselves, mammals). The definition was invented by a person, therefore, in relation to him, it will be said that in the Central and South America, Australia, Africa and many regions of Asia (southern and eastern), there are dishes and whole cuisines based on cooking insects that are very popular. In fact, entomophagy is inherent in more than 100 countries of the world, and it is believed that in the future the number of people practicing this way of eating will increase due to the threat of world hunger. It is estimated that more than 1.5 thousand species of insects can be eaten in one form or another.

Strictly speaking, the adopted safety standards do not prohibit eating wormy vegetables and fruits. It is known that wormy apples are the sweetest on the tree, and here the fact of accidental ingestion cannot be ruled out. Moreover, a person in his life, without knowing it, swallows more than 300 g of insects, along with jam, bread and other products. It should be noted that insects are high in protein. In some cases, certain food additives are obtained from them, for example, the cochineal food coloring is isolated from crushed scaly insects that live on a prickly pear. Proponents of insect eating believe that this can solve many problems with obesity, high blood pressure, and more. In the controversy over healthy food, entomophagy makes its own path, different from the path of the traditional and vegetarian. Unlike vegetarians, entomophages believe that vegetable proteins, obtained, for example, from nuts and legumes, do not replace human animal proteins. In the West, entomophagy is now gradually becoming fashionable, concentrating in the communities associated with it. But we can firmly say that even after realizing all the advantages of entomophagy, many people find it very difficult to overcome stereotypes.

Insect eating proponents believe that it will help solve the problem of obesity, high blood pressure, poor physical shape. In the debate about healthy food, entomophagy opens up a kind of third path, which differs from the traditional and vegetarian paths.

Entomophagic (-ska?) Cuisine

Pate "Delicate"

For the preparation of this dish, any insects that are available are suitable: mealworms and meal beetles, adult bees and their larvae, locusts, silkworm larvae, cockroaches. Fry the finely chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic in oil. Put insects (which must first be killed by leaving for half an hour in the refrigerator), salt, pepper and the necessary seasonings - to taste. You can add some white wine to the mealworms. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, and then rub through a fine sieve and keep on fire, stirring all the time, until all the liquid evaporates and the paste acquires a dense consistency

Melt butter and stir in a glass of chopped worms. Add one tablespoon of honey and granulated sugar and beat the resulting mixture in a mixer. Pour in sweet sherry and rum (more sherry and a few drops of rum). Boil for 5 minutes, then pass through a fine sieve and keep on low heat until the mixture hardens. After removing from heat, pour in a tablespoon of lemon juice and chill in the refrigerator. The dish is good in that finished form nothing in it betrays the main component from which it is made.

You will need three tomatoes, one small zucchini, an onion, two sweet peppers, one cauliflower roach, a glass of dry white wine, one hundred grams of grated cheese, three hundred grams of mealworms, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. Rinse the flour worms well and dry. and salt. Finely chop the vegetables and fry in olive oil. Add worms and white wine to the fried vegetable mass, simmer for 10-12 minutes over low heat. Sprinkle with grated cheese and garnish with herbs before serving.

Take 25 large crickets, put them to sleep in the freezer (do not freeze!), Remove the hind limbs and spread on a baking sheet. Dry in the oven at a temperature of 250 degrees for 1 ... 2 hours. Melt several chocolate bars and bring to a boil. Dip the finished crickets one at a time in chocolate, then spread them out to dry on waxed paper.

For the first time, women are offered, for example, a cricket in chocolate, believing that the addiction will pass faster this way. But sometimes even such yummy makes women nauseous: crickets make a specific clicking on their teeth, as if you are crushing a bug. True, then, getting used to these sounds, lovers thrill they snap crickets like seeds and claim that even potato chips with their monotonous crunch cannot be compared with them.

In Thailand, the cheapest insect dishes are grasshoppers and ants, the most expensive is the baked scorpion. It will be served to you only in an expensive restaurant, always on a thin flat cake, with a light sour sauce... In the north of Thailand, live insects are also eaten, live (they must move!) Ants in sauce or sugar are especially loved. There is a desire to hunt for food in a plate - please!

Madagascar cockroaches are a real delicacy! The "cockroach" cuisine is based on traditional Thai cooking and is considered "cool" to eat. Insect aficionados claim, for example, that these fried critters resemble ham.

The most popular snack is considered to be the ugly-looking crispy fried bear. Connoisseurs also speak highly of the classic "cocktail" that contains four ingredients - crickets, locusts, water beetles and bear.

Pizza with rhinoceros beetle larvae

What you need (8 servings): 15-20 rhinoceros beetle larvae
1 red bell pepper
2 tomatoes
1 onion
200 g hard cheese
5 tbsp. l. tomato paste
4 tbsp. l. mayonnaise
For the test:
1.5 cups flour
150 g butter (can be replaced with vegetable oil)

Basics first. Combine melted butter with flour, egg and salt. Knead thoroughly, roll a ball out of the dough, wrap it in foil and put it in the refrigerator for a while. Now the filling: chop the tomatoes, peppers and onions. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater. Ready? Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out in a thin layer on a baking sheet, forming small sides along the edges. Mix and spread evenly on the surface of the base tomato paste and mayonnaise. Lay out tomatoes, peppers, onions and cheese on top (sequentially, in layers). Fry the rhinoceros beetle larvae in boiling oil over high heat for 5 minutes. Season them with salt and herbs, dry them from fat on paper towel and place on top of the cheese pizza. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C.

What you need (4 servings):
1 cup mealworms
200 g long grain rice
1 stalk of leeks
1 large onion
2 medium carrots
1 bell pepper
4 tbsp. l. soy sauce
vegetable oil
salt, pepper, green onions

Cook rice in salted water. Onion and finely chop the leeks, mix and sauté in a small amount vegetable oil until golden brown. Then add the pre-grated carrots, after another 10 minutes - the Bulgarian pepper cut into thin strips. Simmer vegetables without a lid for 10 minutes, season with salt, pepper and soy sauce. Add cooked rice to the vegetable mixture. In a separate frying pan, heat the oil and fry the mealworms a little in it. During the frying process, they should increase slightly in size. Once this process is over, remove the worms from the heat so they don't burn. Now season them with salt and pepper, mix with rice and vegetables and simmer over medium heat for another 5-7 minutes. Serve hot, sprinkle with finely chopped green onions on top.

What you need (12 cookies):
48 well-done and caramelized crickets
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup crushed walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate shavings
1/2 pack of melted butter

Mix flour, salt and baking soda. Separately, beat the butter and two types of sugar with a mixer, add the egg, flour mixture, walnuts, chocolate chips and 2/3 crickets. Mix everything up. Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and spoon the dough onto it, forming small round cookies. Leave a couple of centimeters between them - when baking, the size of the cookies will double. For each sit on top of a cricket, slightly sinking it into the dough. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 ° C.

Earthworm cutlets

What you need (4 servings):
700 g worms (after internal cleaning)
1 tsp lemon peel
150 g ghee
white pepper, salt
breadcrumbs
sour cream

Put the worms in a colander and put them in boiling water for a few minutes. Then grind them with a blender, add lemon zest, ghee, salt and white pepper. Mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and salt. Shape the minced meat into cutlets, dip each in an egg and breadcrumbs, and place in a preheated skillet with butter... Fry for 10 minutes on each side. Before serving the fields, cutlets with warm sour cream.

Insects are an important food source in many parts of the world, and are gaining popularity and acceptance in countries that have not traditionally eaten them. Why are there insects? The insects are nutritious and plentiful. They are high in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. The way insects are eaten and nutritional value depend on their diet, species, developmental stage and how they are prepared. Thus, an insect that tastes like chicken in one case may resemble fish or fruit in other circumstances. If you've eaten insects before and don't like it, consider trying again. If you've never eaten insects, here's a good list of where to start your gastronomic experiments.

Grasshoppers and crickets

There are about 2,000 species of edible insects, but grasshoppers and crickets are among the most popular for human consumption. They can be eaten fried, boiled, or stewed. In some countries, these insects are grown for grinding to produce an edible protein powder. Grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts belong to the order Orthoptera ( Orthoptera).

Caterpillars

Almost all species of crickets and grasshoppers are edible, but the same cannot be said for caterpillars. Caterpillars are butterfly larvae. Like their adult forms, some caterpillars are toxic. Larvae of the South African species of peacock eyes Gonimbrasia belina is one of the edible caterpillar species. They have a particularly high iron content of 31-77 mg per 100 g (compared to 6 mg per 100 g for beef). These caterpillars are an important food source in Africa and are becoming more popular elsewhere.

To others edible species caterpillars include Aegiale hesperiaris(commonly found in Agavero liqueur) as well as bamboo worm ( Omphisa fuscidentalis) and silk worm ( Bombyx mori).

Palm weevil larvae

Palm weevil larva ( Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is a tasty insect, especially when fried in its own fat. These larvae are very popular in Central America, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cooked larvae are said to be like sweetened bacon, while raw larvae are prized for their creamy texture. Palm weevils are tropical insects native to South-East Asia... Despite the fact that there are many of them on palm trees, it is practiced in Thailand to grow larvae indoors.

Flour worm

In Western countries, mealworms have long been fed to birds and other pets, and they are also recognized as a source of food for humans. Mealworms are easy to breed in temperate climates, unlike many edible insects that prefer the tropics. When raised as a food source, the larvae feed on oats, grains, or wheat bran with an apple, potato, or carrot for moisture. Their nutritional value is similar to that of beef. For human consumption, mealworms are fried, boiled, or ground into powder. They taste more like shrimp than beef, which makes sense since mealworms are the larval form of the meal beetle ( Tenebrio molitor). Like shrimp, beetles belong to. Many other beetle larvae from the order of Coleoptera ( Coleoptera) are also edible.

Ants

Several species of ants are a highly prized delicacy. They say that lemon ants ( Myrmelachista schumanni) from the Amazon jungle has a characteristic lemon scent. Leaf cutter ants are commonly fried and said to taste similar to bacon or pistachio nuts. Honey ants are eaten raw and taste sweet. In Western society, ants from the genus Kamponotus ( Camponotus).

Adult ants, their larvae and eggs can serve as a food source for humans. Ant eggs are considered a special form of insect eggs and are expensive. Insects are eaten raw (even live), fried, boiled, shredded, and as an additive to drinks.

Wasps and bees are also edible for humans, and are in the same order with ants.

Other edible insects

Other edible insects include dragonflies, cicadas, bee larvae, cockroaches, butterfly pupae, and maggots. Earthworms are also a popular food item, but they are not insects, but are classified as annelids, a type of animal. Edible worms are high in iron and protein.

While scorpions and spiders are not insects, humans generally do not separate them. Like insects, these are arthropods and are related to such as crabs and shrimp. Spiders and scorpions are the land-based counterpart to seafood. Lice are also edible (although eating them in front of other people may seem a little odd).

Other arthropods that often serve as dinner for humans include wood lice, water beetles (they taste like fruit), bed bugs, June beetles, and even dung beetles!

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.