23 Responses:

1. ionan says:

   11 years ago at 10:44 pm

   Pretty gross, but gotta hand it to 'em on presentation.

2. korgmeister says:

   11 years ago at 11:40 pm

   Isn't lobster a bug?

   I wonder if bugs taste like lobster.

   • divergio says:

     11 years ago at 2:56 pm

     Insects and crustaceans are both arthropods. Whereas the insects became king on land, the crustaceans became king in the sea.

     That said, though I have no problem eating all manner of strange things the Japanese dredge out of the ocean and find a way to put on rice, I am decidedly less excited about these...

   • lafinjack says:

     11 years ago at 4:04 pm

     Lobsters may be the bugs he normally eats, therefore they don't disgust him.

3. ydna says:

   11 years ago at 12:01 am

   I dunno. I'm a sushi nut. And I look at this and think, can I really just dismiss it out of hand? I just discovered how much I love sea urchin ovaries last week. There's gotta be something tasty here.

   • edouardp says:

     11 years ago at 12:38 am

     Mmmm, reminds me of the $200 a head sushi meal we had in Tokyo. We just kept ordering more and more yummy things, and ended up eating a couple of boxes of those sea urchin ovaries (uni or ウニ). That's probably where most of the money went. Dear God, is that stuff to die for, or what?

     Then we all went out to the nightclub and our hosts served us endless quantities of tequila.

     All the other pussies in the company threw up, or passed out, or (my roommate) passed out *and* threw up. It's hard to have respect for people who can't hold their liquor.

     And the bathroom sinks in the hotel rooms the next morning were truly disgusting.

     Ahhh. Good times, good times.

4. edouardp says:

   11 years ago at 12:18 am

   My first reaction would normally be "yuck".

   But. I've been to Japan, and everything tasted fabulous, and so, weirdly, some other part of my brain is going "all Japanese food tastes good - try one!"

   There's a Māori delicacy called the "Huhu grub", which is the larval stage of the Huhu beetle. Not many people I know have actually eaten one, but, dammit, *sushi* seems like the perfect delivery device.

   • edouardp says:

     11 years ago at 12:21 am

     Actually, now that I think about it, the whale wasn't that nice. Perfectly matching dipping sauce though - so partial credit for that.

     (As is the custom with foreigners, we were only told it was whale after we'd had some.)

   • edouardp says:

     11 years ago at 12:31 am

     Of course. Huhu grub sushi - already done: http://ckiff.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!CA2BF4D50EF0C342!1013.entry

     Just a pity the site with the photo isn't up.

5. kencf0618 says:

   11 years ago at 12:50 am

   There is no word for "crisp" in Ferengi.

6. edouardp says:

   11 years ago at 1:01 am

   I've been trying to think what bugs a North American would normally eat.

   Umm, mezcal worm?

   • jwz says:

     11 years ago at 1:11 am

     Well, I was thinking shrimp, lobster, and crayfish. All of which are basically cockroaches. Delicious, delicious cockroaches.

     • revsphynx says:

       11 years ago at 3:28 am

       And all the bits and pieces that end up in all processed food anyway?

     • fantasygoat says:

       11 years ago at 8:49 am

       Mostly they get eaten after removing the insides and heads, though. I just can't eat shrimp with the heads still on them.

       • freiheit says:

         11 years ago at 11:13 am

         But if you deep fry the heads, the stuff inside the head is super-tasty!

7. pir_anha says:

   11 years ago at 5:50 am

   wow. the presentation is so good that it would seriously tempt me. and i will try most things once.

   i might have to close my eyes to stop my gag reflex, which is not as highly evolved as my taste for adventure.

8. jered says:

   11 years ago at 6:49 am

   I'm sadly with you on this.... I have trouble eating cricket taquitos, and you can't even see the cricket in those. (They're crunchy and nutty.)

   I think the thing that bugs (hah) me isn't so much the creature, as the eating it whole. I have similar challenges with eating shrimp heads, for example (which are also really quite tasty). If those catepillars were peeled and gutted, I bet you'd have no qualms at all...

   • lysariala says:

     11 years ago at 8:12 am

     i agree, i just am not a fan of the crunchy outer bits. hell i don't even like soft shelled crab because of the shell. i don't see how people can eat the tails on shrimp, it feels like its cutting up my throat :/ i'd totally eat the squishy insides of a bug tho :)

9. vaevictus_net says:

   11 years ago at 7:43 am

   Is that a Tomato worm?

10. qtrnevermore says:

    11 years ago at 11:04 am

    Deep fried tarantula then? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oqzzXLKPE
    I hear they taste just like soft-shell crab.
    Or perhaps snail?

    • ciurana says:

      11 years ago at 1:17 pm

      Howdy.

      I'm partial to grasshoppers and agave worms. The former taste like shrimp, the latter like French fries. I've also eaten escamoles (ant larvae). My g/f agrees - they're all good! Especially in tacos.

      Photos:
      http://eugeneciurana.com/galereya/view_photo.php?set_albumName=2009Random&id=CIMG1374 - grasshoppers (chapulines)
      http://eugeneciurana.com/galereya/view_photo.php?set_albumName=2009Random&id=CIMG1375 - g/f eating grasshoppers
      http://eugeneciurana.com/galereya/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Celaya-birthday-2007&id=IMG_0904 - agave worms (chinicuiles) - the ant larvae (escamoles) were at the far end of the plate, and the first ones to be eaten.

      Cheers!

      pr3d4t0r

11. spoonyfork says:

    11 years ago at 9:06 pm

    The first one was on a dare by our jungle guide. The second was because the first tasted good. Termites taste like peanut butter. :9

12. fzort says:

    11 years ago at 8:02 am

    The Japanese comments on that page seem to agree with jwz's sentiment. Many variations of "ä¹â