Edible Insects and Plants

[armie]

So which one is it... if we eat too much of proteins, are they passed through the body or converted to energy and fats (which are stored, as is easily observed)?

 

[Lumber Jack]

Depends entirely on what the body requires. If it requires EFA's and energy it will convert them. If not, the body will simply get rid of them.

Hope this helps.

 

[armie]

Yes it does. For some reason I believed excess protein was always converted to fat. Thanks!

 

[John Fenna]

I found the easiest way to get the squeemish to eat worms is to cook them on hot rocks untill they are all crispy (like bacon rind) then crush them and add them to a soup of wild greens (no - not eco party activists, vegetables!) as a natural OXO
Snail - even served in a fancy restaurant - are pretty horrible - leave them for the French!
Slugs are just as bad.
Shellfish of most sorts do nothing for me except limpets which burn more calories in the chewing that they give as food....
Fried spiders taste nice and nutty while cockroaches have little flavour but lots of crunch..
Eating Grannies (woodlice) just sounds too much like canibalism to me....
Ant eggs are OK but harvest them carefully - both for the ants sake and to avoid being bitten
Fillet steak with fried eggs - now you are talking REAL food!

 

[Lumber Jack]

Yes it does. For some reason I believed excess protein was always converted to fat. Thanks!

Definitely not.

LJ.

 

[Scottishwanderer]

They are tastey, me and a friend once had enough snails and worms to fill a 1 litre pot, boiled em up and munched the lot between us. Was full that day.

I think in summer i could survive with that as a staple food, with some shellfish and wild edibles thrown in would give a good balance.

 

[santaman2000]

...The very cool thing about proteins, is the fact that they can be converted by our bodies, to energy and fats, (EFA's-essential fatty acids.) Shellfish aren't so "uncool" now are they?...

No. They're not uncool at all. But the EFAs don't come from "conversion." Most shellfish (shrimp in particular) contain omega 3 fatty acid. As does Salmon and a host of seafood.

 

[Lumber Jack]

No. They're not uncool at all. But the EFAs don't come from "conversion." Most shellfish (shrimp in particular) contain omega 3 fatty acid. As does Salmon and a host of seafood.

You've obviously not read what I wrote. I stated that proteins can go on to be EFA's via way of conversion, they can. I do also know that shrimp and most other creatures that dwell in an isotonic solution contain a lot of N-3 to N-6 fatty acids. (omega 3 & 6 fatty acid).

I'll repeat what I said. Proteins can be converted into EFA's. As well as carbohydrates (energy) and glycogen. I didn't compare it to the N-6 & N-3 EFA's found in shrimps. That was a completely different paragraph.

Excellent post though. Thanks,

LJ

 

[santaman2000]

I found the easiest way to get the squeemish to eat worms is to cook them on hot rocks untill they are all crispy (like bacon rind) then crush them and add them to a soup of wild greens (no - not eco party activists, vegetables!) as a natural OXO ...

I've never tried it but I've always wondered about a method from way back in the book, The Swiss Family Robinson. At one point one of the boys baked a potato (roasted in embers) and spread the worm/slug on it like a large pat of butter.

 

[leahcim]

i love to gather worms by grunting, look it up. then dip in water so they spit out dirt, then let them feed on corn meal for a day Then fried them up. Drying them and making powder makes it easier to eat in soups.

 

[Spirit fish]

Sometimes when you are in the wilderness you might forget, use up or loose your food you may have with you. If you are hungry but do not have the right tools or knowledge to successfully hunt game from pigeons and squirrels even to deer, then you might have to resort to eating insects! However unappetising they may look, its food! And that is why it is good to have some general knowledge of the types of insects that are edible.

Woodlice - Most people know what these look like, they look like tiny versions of Armadillo's and can be found in rotting dead wood, in cracks and crevasses ect. They can be eaten raw but do not have any flavour at all, but when you cook them, just a quick fry over a fire will do. You can hear them pop as they cook and go a grey colour, when they are cooked they taste like prawns! Unbelievable but true, give them a go!

Worms and Slugs - Earthworms, maggots and larva ect are generally fine to eat raw, you may want to squeeze their insides out first just to be sure that you get as many parasites out as possible without cooking them, you do not have to remove the guts but it is generally safer and you will not be missing out on any mouth watering flavours if you remove them! Slugs on the other hand contain some very harmful parasites and if eaten should first have their guts removed and leave just the meat. After you remove the guts you should boil them in water just to be safe. Then they are fine.

Iv had woodlice,taste like shrimp and smoked earthworms taste like bacon I'm not a fan of snails

 

[Spirit fish]

Woodlice also make a decent indigestion cure, if eaten raw, although in my opinion, unlike the poster above, they taste awful (they have glands that secrete an oil that makes them taste bad to predators). For preference, choose the ones that roll up into balls, as they have better armour and so have less effective oil glands.

Slugs are alright pickled like cockles.

Big brown house spiders (those leggy monstrosities) are supposed to be quite tasty when roasted. I know some tropical spiders are traditionally roasted over a fire by stuffing them into bamboo canes and holding the cane over the fire. In late summer big garden spiders are probably edible too.

Grasshoppers are ok to eat too, as are green or brown caterpillars, but beware anything with bright colours (usually equals poisonous), or hairy (irritant spines).

Most other stuff in the UK isn't really big enough to be worth the trouble, or available in sufficient quantities, unless you are seashore foraging. It is curious though that people will happily go and collect winkles and prawns, but put them in a field away from the shore and they won't eat anything unless it is a plant.

interesting i d never thought about pickling slugs , iv often thought about trying sea slaters

 

[Spirit fish]

Dont forget you will need water to digest the food. No water dont eat. Welcome Surviving Wild.

Plenty water in the uk

 

[Toddy]

Anybody near me wants to try snails, please visit. We have ones the size of pingpong balls all over the garden. I can gather half a pailful in half an hour

 

[Spirit fish]

Anybody near me wants to try snails, please visit. We have ones the size of pingpong balls all over the garden. I can gather half a pailful in half an hour

I'm not a fan of snails but willing to try pickling them see how that works I like whelks though ,snails have declined a lot near me this year last year there was loads

 

[Spirit fish]

Yes it does. For some reason I believed excess protein was always converted to fat. Thanks!

U need fat to digest lean meat , otherwise your body will use its own stores fat to utilise the protein look up rabbit starvation

 

[Robson Valley]

No. The central compound in the Central Metabolic Pathway is a 2-carbon bit attached to Coenzyme A. Acetyl~S-CoA is the usual text book designation.
The squiggle indicates a very energy rich temporary bond of attachment.

You strip the amino groups off the amino acids in proteins and you are left with a hodge-podge of carbohydrate chunks. Sooner or later, you will see Acetyl~S-CoA.
The aminos, you can pee out as urea.

Now! What to do with it? Build stuff? A bunch in a row makes a fatty acid and 3 of those build a fat. Eat 12 loaves of bread, and 10kg sugar and we can discuss the outcome.
Up your energy demands in muscle demands. The Acetyl will get trashed as CO2 and H2O and the energy that it had contained in its structure. You can build stuff, move muscle and some gets shaved off as your body heat.

 

[Spirit fish]

No. The central compound in the Central Metabolic Pathway is a 2-carbon bit attached to Coenzyme A. Acetyl~S-CoA is the usual text book designation.
The squiggle indicates a very energy rich temporary bond of attachment.

You strip the amino groups off the amino acids in proteins and you are left with a hodge-podge of carbohydrate chunks. Sooner or later, you will see Acetyl~S-CoA.
The aminos, you can pee out as urea.

Now! What to do with it? Build stuff? A bunch in a row makes a fatty acid and 3 of those build a fat. Eat 12 loaves of bread, and 10kg sugar and we can discuss the outcome.
Up your energy demands in muscle demands. The Acetyl will get trashed as CO2 and H2O and the energy that it had contained in its structure. You can build stuff, move muscle and some gets shaved off as your body heat.

I know a lot about nutrition because I used do bodybuilding carbs give u a lot of energy but fats are more steady and longer lasting ,the glycerin from fats can be converted to glycogen in the absence of carbs for explosive energy i e sprinting ect coming of carbs on those used to western diets is like coming of drugs and hard for the first 2 months but your body will utilise and convert fats to energy in the absence of carbohydrates protein is essential fats are essential but essential carbohydrates don't exist i v completely removed carbs from my diet when getting lean for 6 months and I thrived using just fats for energy the adaption phase is difficult though

 

[Spirit fish]

No. The central compound in the Central Metabolic Pathway is a 2-carbon bit attached to Coenzyme A. Acetyl~S-CoA is the usual text book designation.
The squiggle indicates a very energy rich temporary bond of attachment.

You strip the amino groups off the amino acids in proteins and you are left with a hodge-podge of carbohydrate chunks. Sooner or later, you will see Acetyl~S-CoA.
The aminos, you can pee out as urea.

Now! What to do with it? Build stuff? A bunch in a row makes a fatty acid and 3 of those build a fat. Eat 12 loaves of bread, and 10kg sugar and we can discuss the outcome.
Up your energy demands in muscle demands. The Acetyl will get trashed as CO2 and H2O and the energy that it had contained in its structure. You can build stuff, move muscle and some gets shaved off as your body heat.

I'm not arguing with your science btw carbs are a very effective performance enhancing fuel but the body can convert fat into glycogen and the fat itself is slow long lasting energy thin k burning a candle compared to burning biscuits carbs