All this food experimentation led Gracer to attend a presentation by David George Gordon, a well-known insect advocate.

Gracer was impressed by Gordon’s lecture and says, “I understood why eating insects made sense. They’re very nutritious and so easy to mass produce.”

Gracer now gives his own lectures and says he is always the first one to taste the bugs when demonstrating.

“I am working on my cooking skills slowly. Insects can be substituted for shrimp, chicken, tofu, etc., in many recipes.”

Gracer cautions that some people may be allergic to insects, and should take precautions.

“The fact is that insects are arthropods, just like crustaceans. In fact that’s the reasoning behind the name of my company, Sunrise Land Shrimp. Therefore the same things that make some people highly allergic to shellfish would apply to insects.”

Besides allergies, Gracer talked about other possible potential health risks in eating insects.

“It’s important to consider the environment that the insects have been living in. Most of us would never eat a cockroach that grew up in a major city, but potential exposure to and contamination by other chemicals, including pesticides, are less obvious. It seems that there’s been very little research done about whether or not insects retain those poisons in their bodies.

“The safe choice is to limit your insect meals to those bugs that have been raised in captivity.

So where would you purchase “safe” insects? Gracer explained.

“First of all, one can collect one’s own insects from the wild, let’s not forget that. This website contains a bit of information on this, and I’d be glad to send a little more information to those interested in such a thing.

“In terms of purchasing insects, funny thing. Though one can find ethnic markets, usually Asian, Thai and Chinese, that offer packaged, (frozen, and canned insects), those who wish to prepare their own insects will find better luck at the local pet stores. There are no United States companies that prepare insects for human consumption. Those few individuals who, like myself, serve crickets and/or mealworms to the public rely on pet stores for the live insects that are more often fed to lizards, frogs, birds, etc.

“Some may find this a little distressing. But until things change in the entomophagy infrastructure, it’s either nature or pet stores. Of course there are a few companies online where one can purchase exotic edible insects. I am willing to share that information as well.”

So why would David suggest anyone eat insects at all?

“First you have a chance to find out for yourself whether or not insects are gross,” he said.

“Secondly, you can finally see how the majority of the world eats. In fact, you are joining the majority of humanity when you eat insects.”