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Re: [nafex] gypsy moth caviar & Weight Watchers



Well, Kevin, I've never eaten them cooked, so I don't know about the relative 
advantages.  However, like most things, grasshoppers taste a bit bitter in 
dry weather.  I just hold them by the big back legs and bite them.  Unless it 
has been dry, they seem relatively tasteless.  Just a bit crunchy with lots 
of juice and not much substance, though more than crickets.  While I've never 
had problems from eating them live, I suppose people who live a life 
esentially under seran wrap with little exposure to browsing food as they 
find it might lack the proper defenses to deal with relatively mild foreign 
organisms.  This appears to be the case, if newspaper accounts of sickness 
from eating slightly active materials are to be accepted.  Actually, I've 
always wanted to eat earthworms, but could never overcome my cultural 
prejudice against them.  But every class of animal eats them and most appear 
to relish them.  (Ive noticed cats don't like them, but cats are perverse 
anyway.)  
    Actually, I like to grow my own beef.  Then I know the animal has a good 
life and as humane a death as I can give it and the grass-fat animals do not 
have the bad effects on health that grain fattened animals do.  And one can 
get a lot more food from a grasshopper if it is impaled on the end of a 
fishhook.  :-)  But basically, I agree with your dietary observations, with 
perhaps the addition to eating as many cooked greens as possible, wild, tame, 
whatever.  This is the most efficient food, as the leaves are the primary 
producers of almost all other food.   I'd also add microbial food (e.g., 
yoghurt, fish paste, etc.) and similar (e.g., temphe which is actually a 
fungal decompositon of foods).  And whenever possible, whole foods, like 
grasshoppers or live grains ground right before eating are better, I believe. 
 I give my chickens a certain amount of whole wheat every day so that they 
are sure to have that, no matter how much "dead" food they get.  Of course 
they gather their own whole foods, too, but I want to assure that they get 
enough.

Dan H
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In a message dated 1/20/01 2:27:18 AM, the.fluffy.bunny@juno.com writes:

<< Bill wrote:

I've heard that grasshoppers taste like shrimp, only better. Can anyone
confirm this?

My reply:

They actually vary by season, location, type and preparation method.    
Grasshoppers like many things we crunch and munch take on different
tastes depending on what they are grazing on.    In my experience the
wild fed ones are far ranker then those that come from the farming
communities.      

I have eaten many over the years and I do not recall any that tasted like
shrimp, perhaps they might taste vaguely similar to small crawfish but
the resemblance is faint at best.   

In addition they may harbor small parasites so a good cooking is
essential.   

I might point out that in this era of "mad cow disease" it might be time
we overcome our "food" prejudices and look at such healthy alternatives. 
   I'll confess I love a good steak every now and then, but a steady diet
of vegtables and insects, augmented by an occasional steak sounds all
around fairly appealing to me. 

Very truly yours,

                       the crunch and munch bunny >>