Pass The Bugs Please

Entomology Professor Demonstrates Insect Cuisine

Since Thanksgiving is upon us, everybody will be thinking about turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

If you are tired of the traditional meal, how about cooking up some crickets or mealworms?

Every semester, students in Dr. Roger Gold's Entomology 322 class get the chance to chow down on various delicacies of the bug kind.

During the middle of the semester, students feast on such dishes as sauteed crickets, crab boiled mealworms and mealworm pizza, before listening to his lecture on the types of insect eating.

The class, called Insects and Human Society, shows students the role that insects play in our everyday lives, such as in food production and storage, art and music.

The activity started in the early 1990s to allow students to see that insects in the world can also be used as a source of food. After students get their fill of the insect delights, Gold then lectures about using insects as food.

Gold said people can eat insects in two ways: actively and passively. In passive eating, or passive entomophagy, the insects or insect parts are eaten with everyday food.

Foods, such as grains, are monitored for the quantity of insect parts in the food. The insect parts are barely noticeable to people and are harmless.

Active entomophagy, or active eating, is where people eat the insects directly. Gold said most insects are very good sources of protein and minerals.

Some of the insect delicacies Gold has served in the class included fire ant quesadillas, pizzas with crickets, termite bark and cricket brownies.

When asked about using cockroaches as food, Gold said they were never used because they are not as clean as most insects.

Other insects to watch out for are the Dermestid beetle and the blister beetle. These insects either can cause stinging and irritation or have a chemical that causes blistering or swelling.

The popularity of the class has enabled it to grow to more than 200 students since Gold began the demonstration. Gold said that he can feed up to about 100 students.