While I have eaten many a cricket, ant, worm, and other assorted invertebrate during my travels (including earlier this month in Mexico), I wouldn't recommend this in a class-at least in the US-without much more research. Insects aren't insects aren't insects. Different species have developed specific toxins, some are allergenic, others have toxins at particular parts of their lifecycles. Without knowing what it is and where/how it was grown harvested, you open potentially more problems and liability. In North Korea, there was a recent spate of illness and death because folks were eating a plant just as it was sprouting. The same plant, eaten later in its lifecycle, while not the most nutritious, was fine. At that time, it had toxins which led to sickness and death.
Understanding proteins and sources is great, important. Using the ick factor to make a lasting point is great. Getting past the ick factor to understanding sustainable resource development even better. Putting yourself at risk of lawsuit is probably going a bit too far. Clearly, I am an administrator. ========================================================== "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power" (B. Clinton, 2008). --------------------------------------------------------- Leonard P. Hirsch, Senior Policy Advisor Smithsonian Institution 1100 Jefferson Drive SW #3123 PO Box 37012, Q-3123 MRC 705 Washington, DC 20013-7012 1.202.633.4788 1.202.312.2888 fax [email protected]<blocked::mailto:[email protected]> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Chalecki Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2011 12:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [gep-ed] Follow-up on crickets Everyone- I got some e-mails from various folks asking if they could "steal" the feed-the-students-bugs idea - yes, please do! I did send Marcel Dicke at Wageningen University an e-mail about the whole thing, and he sent a nice note back. Theresa Jedd from CO State also made a good point, that we think it's icky to eat bugs because we have a choice of what to eat, whereas crickets could mean the difference between life and death for North Koreans and others facing severe famine. Crickets and mealworms you can get at the PetSmart. I asked the guy at the Cambridge store if I could kill the crickets by putting them in the freezer. He said yes, but anything that would be eating them would want them alive. He asked what I was feeding them to that would eat them dead (he's thinking iguanas & lizards), and when I said, "my students," he looked at me like I was some sort of mad scientist! Which actually could be a good career path for me. For locusts and other bigger bugs, I think you would have to go to a specialty retailer or get them online. The WSJ article says don't eat bugs from your backyard, as they have been exposed to pesticides and other nasty stuff. Some of my students have since asked me if I'm going to make insects a regular part of my diet now (!), and I told them that before I make that decision, I would like to try them prepared by someone who knows their way around a bug recipe (Amazon.com sells "The Eat-a-bug Cookbook," "Creeply Crawly Cuisine" and a few others for the insect-inclined). Hmmm, bug table at next year's ISA reception? -Beth -- Elizabeth L. Chalecki, PhD Visiting Asst Professor International Studies Program, Environmental Studies Program Boston College 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 chalecki [at] bc.edu<http://bc.edu> elizabeth.chalecki [at] gmail.com<http://gmail.com> www.linkedin/com/in/chalecki
