Edible Insects

[Nyayo]

Having watched Bruce Parry's Tribes DVDs (yet again) I'm struck by how many people around the world have insects as a part of their foraged diet. Now I know this has been asked before, but which species of insect can I eat in the UK? Are there any that I should really avoid? I feel I should know this stuff, but the research is really lacking

Regards

Ede

 

[Chiseller]

Woodlice. ...git-em-dun

 

[Lizz]

Some Palaeo food sites/shops sell edible insects like crickets and certain kinds of worms. I had a permaculture teacher who used to say that the amount of protein just under the soil (from the worms) was greater than from a field of cows grazing on the same space.

 

[Harvestman]

Brightly coloured flower beetles should be avoided, for no better reason than when handled they give off chemical deterrents which make them taste absolutely awful. As someone who has sucked up a few in hand-held insect collectors in my time, I can attest to their truly appalling taste.

Large house spiders are certainly edible, described as having a nutty taste when roasted over a fire. Woodlice, as above, taste like prawns, and are also an indigestion cure. Earthworms, slugs & snails are certainly edible, though you might want to purge slugs on a known diet for a day or two first. Best insect forage are probably grasshoppers and green caterpillars (avoid the hairy ones), and the larvae of beetles, ants, wasps, bees, and even flies (maggots). Not appealing, but nutritious.

Even more broad-brush: if it isn't brightly coloured you can probably eat it. I make no promises about what it tastes like though.

 

[Goatboy]

Ants are tasty too. In both larval and adult form.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[santaman2000]

Why not eat the common ones sold at the markets; prawns? Or the bigger ones; lobster and/or crabs? Or the freshwater insect everybody's always posting about; crawfish?

 

[Nyayo]

Edible crustaceans and molluscs I am very familiar with - it just seems that there is very little knowledge about actual insects - crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, butterflies, moths. Perhaps some form of experimentation is required; I'll avoid the brightly coloured ones and the ones with urticating hairs. If you don't hear back from me, you know what's happened...

 

[pysen78]

A trick I never practiced is to trash an ant-hill, and let the ants carry all their eggs to "safety" in a conveniently placed tarp or similar. Easy way to get clean protein collected for you.
Big no-no according to the rules here, but in a ****-scenario, probabably fairly easy.

 

[stonehippo]

Woodlice. ...git-em-dun

do you need to shell them first?������

 

[xylaria]

Earthworms need to be squeezed first. It seems cruel. They taste like fried chicken skin quite nice. I cant imagine a slug been any good. Sand hill /banded snails aren't good, very similar taste and texture to firm mucus.

 

[dennydrewcook]

Never try to caramelise an earthworm it does NOT improve the flavour, snails are nice, maggots fine, not tried slugs but caramelised earthworm is evil. without it they're not too bad.
Do Crustaceans count as insects?


denny 😊

 

[mick91]

Ants aren't so bad they're kind of citrus tasting imo. I'm sure I read somewhere that you can grind them into a paste and cook em like little cakes. Earthworms are ok if you cook them crispy and put an in an omelette. I don't imagine there are many British insects that are toxic to eat but some will be bloody awful. Survival situations I suppose you COULD eat pretty much any insect, but in the same way if you tried you could probably eat a cricket ball doesn't mean it'll taste good!
As for the moths and butterflies, I can't say I have ever personally consumed one but have it on good authority they taste "like licking a Hoover bag, only more fluttery" but then my cat loves them so can't be that bad!

 

[mick91]

Maggots I find normally taste like blackberries, although I'm 99% certain that's because I only ever eat them by accident when eating blackberries!

 

[Andy BB]

I've been on lake Malawi when the insects rise from the lake in a huge cloud (can't remember the type, but they are very small and black). Natives collect them in big nets as they come ashore, then squidge them together, make burger patties of the goo, and cook on hot stones. I'm informed that they are very nutritious (virtually all protein) and taste good too. Wonder if you can do the same with midges etc - be good to get our own back on the little bitey blighters....

 

[Goatboy]

Don't they reckon that into the future that we'll have to source our protein from different sources like insects, TVP, fungi and some sea algae. Watched a program where they were looking at insect eating round the world. At one point kids were rounding up tarantulas and roasting them in embers, they seemed to love them.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Nyayo]

Midge burgers! Genius! Perhaps a new export business when I defect to Scotland..!

 

[bambodoggy]

At one point kids were rounding up tarantulas and roasting them in embers, they seemed to love them.

Our local guide did this each day for his lunch during a trip to Belize with the TA, he seemed very pleased with himself as he ate his meal In hindsight , I wish I'd asked to try a bit