All
this food experimentation led Gracer to attend a presentation by
David George Gordon, a well-known insect advocate.
Gracer was impressed by Gordons lecture
and says, I understood why eating insects made sense. Theyre
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 thats 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.
Its 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 theres 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 ones
own insects from the wild, lets not forget that. This website
contains a bit of information on this, and Id 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, its
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.
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