Monday, May 18, 2009

Food Buggies

As I waited on line for a cup of Chex mix with crickets, I thought maybe this wasn’t a very good idea. We were at the Natural History Museum for Bug Fair (which, by the way, was sponsored by an extermination company without a trace of irony). Among the tables of unusually large millipedes, brightly colored butterflies, roaches that hissed and beetles the size of nightmares, was a man in a funny hat, cooking insects. WonderWife™ said that eating bugs happened to be on her list of things she always wanted to do. The Bean picked up on this and announced, “I’m hungry for bugs.”

I had no intention of trying them. As much as I love food, Anthony Bourdain I am not. But I was more than happy to procure the insect feast for the adventurous half of my family.

The Bean picked up his “food buggie” and popped it into his mouth. WonderWife™ quickly followed suit. A small crunch could be heard and almost simultaneously, my wife and my son were spitting out partially chewed cricket pieces onto the ground.

I give them both a lot of credit, especially the Bean. He’s a kid that I have to force to eat a chicken nugget, but will happily try a bug without any prompting. But I don’t think he’ll be eating bugs again anytime soon. Later that evening when we were playing outside, he turned to me and said, “Those bugs were awful!”

15 comments:

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

K props to both of them! Its something I'm okay with never doing... Unless of course I was in the amazing race or something! I'd do it for the sake of a million dollars... Don't judge me!

Unknown said...

Umm, ew. I think I'd probably die at the side of the road in Africa or wherever they eat bugs rather than eat bugs.

Reminds me of the Indiana Jones where they eat bugs and Monkey brains stew. YUM! Who's hungry??

OneZenMom said...

I cannot currently form anything more coherent than: Eeewww eeewww eeeeeeeeeeeewww.

kiwi said...

Bugs are higher in protein and lower in fat than red meat.

That being said I still wouldn't eat them.

blissfully caffeinated said...

And now? I'm vomiting.

Danielle said...

EEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SciFi Dad said...

You know, for people who eat bugs, you're pretty high and mighty on the golden arches... ;)

SweetPeaSurry said...

I have an adventurous soul, but even I draw the line at butter fried bugs.

blessings!

DGB said...

Shelle...this was not even for a dollar. This was just to do it.

Andrea...It's more like the scene just after that one where Indy and Willie go through the secret passage in her room and they get attacked by bugs.

ZenMom, Caffeinated, Danielle...Totally agree.

Kiwi...there was a booth of nutritional facts. I'm glad my kid wanted to eat healthier. Me? I'll stick with fish and chicken.

SciFi...Funniest thing I've heard all day. Thank you!

SweatPea...If only there were fried in butter. But I believe they were just roasted...plain.

Surfer Jay said...

Pretty cool that the bean tried it. Now he can honestly tell his friends he eats bugs.

Gwen said...

Your wife and son are brave souls. Crickets? I ate bugs by accident once. Quaker Oats snuck them into my oatmeal. I had a few oblivious spoonfuls until I noticed. It was NOT a good morning.

Your escalator operator said...

Did anyone at this event actually eat the bugs and NOT spit them out? Clearly, you had the right idea.

Creative-Type Dad said...

That's just gross.

Were the bugs still moving...?

Sadie said...

Sigh - Anthony Bourdain. Seriously, I can enjoy watching that man eat anything.

DGB said...

SurferJay...And he does. He totally does.

Gwen...Ew. Have you been able to eat Quaker oats since? I had a bad experience with a worm and peanut butter in a tube. (Story for another time.)

Escalator...The people on stage eating bugs looked like they were enjoying them. I was too busy watching my family eat to take notice of anyone else.

Creative...Nope. They were dead bugs.

Sadie...Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential" is great (especially the audio book version).