Thursday, July 4, 2013
Just To Bug You ...
Just a bit of news to bug (pun intended!) you about your 4th of July menu today.
Did anyone see the front-page article in the Wichita Eagle on Thursday (June 27,2013)? "Insects may be what's for dinner, says panel", by Kevin Thibodeaux (McClatchy Washington Bureau). "They're creepy. They're crawly. And they could be on your menu.", the article starts out.
"A panel of experts discussed Wednesday how insects could be used as a food source for a world population estimated to reach 8 billion by 2025. Guests then were treated ("treated" doesn't quite seem the right word for me) to a taste test of insect cuisine."
In the article, Daniella Martin, "a bug blogger for her own website, GirlMeetsBug.com, says, 'This was not something (eating bugs) that someone just decided to experiment with, this is something societies have been surviving off of.' "
The key word there, for me, is "surviving" ... if I eat bugs and worms it will HAVE to be if I am ever in a "surviving" situation - NOT at a dinner party. Only to survive. NEVER, EVER except to survive. Survival only.
The article's author continues, "Martin's blog discusses recipes for cooking some of these insects, including instructions on making meals like caramel apples covered in mealworms (my skin is crawling), cabbage, snap peas and crickets (I prefer cabbage, snap peas and onions); and a 'bee-LT' sandwich made with fried bee larvae (oh, my gosh, I almost passed out the other day when I saw a maggot in the compost bucket and she suggests we EAT it...I'll stick to the old bacon-lettuce-tomato version)."
"Visitors at the embassy were treated to chips and quacamole topped with crickets; pancakes with mealworms baked inside; and fresh asparagus skewered with cicadas." And to think .... all these years I've been picking those things OFF of our fresh veggies and dumping any pancake flour that had a worm in it. What could I have been thinking? (Glad I wasn't invited to THAT embassy dinner.)
Just in case you thought you were safe, 'cause YOU have enough sense to never ever go NEAR such cuisine (unless, again, you ARE in 'survival' mode), I feel I MUST share THIS paragraph with you also:
"Processed foods, including tomato soup, ketchup and peanut butter, have bug parts in them. In addition, natural dyes used in certain foods like M & M's are made from bugs."
Oh, what deception we find in our grocery aisles. Sad. Sad. Sad. Another reason ... a GREAT BIG reason to AVOID processed foods. And here I thought that the times someone has found a bug in the can was because it FELL in by accident, NOT that it was part of the ingredient list and managed to survive!!!! BUG DYE on my M & M's? Who'd a thought? BUG PARTS in that tomato soup, ketchup and peanut butter? Oh, PLEASE say it's not so, 'cause my insides are turning and churning just thinking about all the ketchup and peanut butter I've eaten (but I've always mostly made my own tomato soup, thank goodness!).
Well...there you have it. Definitely news to bug us. To contemplate and chew over in our minds.
I am grateful for Mr. Kevin Thibodeaux for writing this article; for showing me what exotic ingredients may be ground up (or, still crawling) in some of my everyday foods, though I am also, thanks to his article, about to throw up. Before I do, let me leave you with this question:
"Are you putting KETCHUP on those hot dogs and hamburgers today?!"
Did anyone see the front-page article in the Wichita Eagle on Thursday (June 27,2013)? "Insects may be what's for dinner, says panel", by Kevin Thibodeaux (McClatchy Washington Bureau). "They're creepy. They're crawly. And they could be on your menu.", the article starts out.
"A panel of experts discussed Wednesday how insects could be used as a food source for a world population estimated to reach 8 billion by 2025. Guests then were treated ("treated" doesn't quite seem the right word for me) to a taste test of insect cuisine."
In the article, Daniella Martin, "a bug blogger for her own website, GirlMeetsBug.com, says, 'This was not something (eating bugs) that someone just decided to experiment with, this is something societies have been surviving off of.' "
The key word there, for me, is "surviving" ... if I eat bugs and worms it will HAVE to be if I am ever in a "surviving" situation - NOT at a dinner party. Only to survive. NEVER, EVER except to survive. Survival only.
The article's author continues, "Martin's blog discusses recipes for cooking some of these insects, including instructions on making meals like caramel apples covered in mealworms (my skin is crawling), cabbage, snap peas and crickets (I prefer cabbage, snap peas and onions); and a 'bee-LT' sandwich made with fried bee larvae (oh, my gosh, I almost passed out the other day when I saw a maggot in the compost bucket and she suggests we EAT it...I'll stick to the old bacon-lettuce-tomato version)."
"Visitors at the embassy were treated to chips and quacamole topped with crickets; pancakes with mealworms baked inside; and fresh asparagus skewered with cicadas." And to think .... all these years I've been picking those things OFF of our fresh veggies and dumping any pancake flour that had a worm in it. What could I have been thinking? (Glad I wasn't invited to THAT embassy dinner.)
Just in case you thought you were safe, 'cause YOU have enough sense to never ever go NEAR such cuisine (unless, again, you ARE in 'survival' mode), I feel I MUST share THIS paragraph with you also:
"Processed foods, including tomato soup, ketchup and peanut butter, have bug parts in them. In addition, natural dyes used in certain foods like M & M's are made from bugs."
Oh, what deception we find in our grocery aisles. Sad. Sad. Sad. Another reason ... a GREAT BIG reason to AVOID processed foods. And here I thought that the times someone has found a bug in the can was because it FELL in by accident, NOT that it was part of the ingredient list and managed to survive!!!! BUG DYE on my M & M's? Who'd a thought? BUG PARTS in that tomato soup, ketchup and peanut butter? Oh, PLEASE say it's not so, 'cause my insides are turning and churning just thinking about all the ketchup and peanut butter I've eaten (but I've always mostly made my own tomato soup, thank goodness!).
Well...there you have it. Definitely news to bug us. To contemplate and chew over in our minds.
I am grateful for Mr. Kevin Thibodeaux for writing this article; for showing me what exotic ingredients may be ground up (or, still crawling) in some of my everyday foods, though I am also, thanks to his article, about to throw up. Before I do, let me leave you with this question:
"Are you putting KETCHUP on those hot dogs and hamburgers today?!"
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