Day 7: Taco’bout a cricket taco!

Today I decided to cook up some cricket tacos to see how the crispy critters fared as a meat substitute. I have to say I think I preferred them to the mealworms as they had that same distinct nutty flavor with an even better crunch and a taste that I could best compare to crispy chicken skin. I first froze the crickets for about ten minutes, this puts them in a sort of hibernation state and is what I feel to be a more humane way of prepping them for cooking. I first fried them in a little butter and salt in the saucepan for several minutes before placing them under the grill to get nice and crispy. Several family members found themselves drawn to the kitchen thinking I was preparing a roast but were not so keen on taste testing once they found out what I was cooking up.

I think this represents a definite issue that arises once the topic of eating insects is brought up and that is the «ick factor». Even though these insects have familiar tastes to what we’re used to, the thought of eating them alone still seems to repulse people. This is due in no small part to the emphasis put on insects as gross and unappealing creepy crawly creatures in Western media, with the eating of insects often reserved as a punishment or insane challenge in shows such as «I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!». My parents are still huge fans of shrimp and crab however, and with these creatures looking so similar to, and being very closely related to insects, I struggle to understand why people draw the line of what is edible at these six-legged tasty treats.