I rather like a cricket on the hearth

[sovay]

When I was in second or third grade, one of my life goals was to eat a chocolate-covered grasshopper. I no longer remember why. I had learned about insects as a food source very early on—I credit either Natural History or Smithsonian, both of which I used to read in bed—but something about the grasshopper in specific must have sounded especially appealing. Possibly I thought they would taste green. Or they were familiar enough to me from the back yard that they were not offputting, like scorpions or mealworms. I remember similarly trying to persuade my parents to buy me chocolate-covered ants and feeling acutely disappointed when they told me there was nowhere in Boston that made them. I understood I shouldn't try in our kitchen. I wondered if I could order them through the mail.

nineweaving just sent me this link. Crickets are possibly the one insect I feel bad about eating! They are kept as pets. They sing. Locusts are voracious, kosher, and I've always wanted to try them fried, but flavored cricket chips feel like buffalo linnet wings. Plus, calling them "Chirps"? It's a cute, endearing name. It sounds like crickets singing. It reminds me of my brother's parakeet. Sustainable food is wonderful; I have no revulsion about eating insects. I eat animals all the time. I don't think I can bring myself to eat crickets. Their little twittering antennae. I was never upset to find them in the house.

That said, I am all for Mei Mei reverse-engineering garum, with or without mealworms.

But not crickets. I had no idea I was so attached.

Comments

[spatch]

Crickets in captivity have a hard enough time being snake food, iguana food, and spider food! Becoming junk food as well is just going too far. Plus I really don't think they're all that triangular. To which senator do we write about this?

[sovay]

Crickets in captivity have a hard enough time being snake food, iguana food, and spider food! Becoming junk food as well is just going too far.

It's insult to crunchy salty injury.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

So Wilbur never put you off bacon?

Crickets do have cheerful voices. It seems a pity to eat them.




Nine

[sovay]

So Wilbur never put you off bacon?

Never. And I think goats are lovely creatures and also delicious. I am not sure why I feel so sentimental about crickets, but the reaction was immediate.

I would not be able to eat a cat.

Crickets do have cheerful voices. It seems a pity to eat them.

I like that painting. A singing cricket is a plot point in Robert van Gulik's Murder in Canton (1966).

[weirdquark]

Crickets make music. Wilbur was a nice guy with a talented friend.

[sovay]

Crickets make music. Wilbur was a nice guy with a talented friend.

Life is hard enough for artists already!

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

I would never be able to eat cuy for a similar reason.

[sovay]

I would never be able to eat cuy for a similar reason.

Understood. I've been curious ever since seventh grade Spanish, but I would not plate your piggies.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Did you read The Cricket in Times Square (George Selden) as a child? I was very attached to it.

Between that and The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, it's a little perplexing that I did not hightail it for New York after college.

[sovay]

Did you read The Cricket in Times Square (George Selden) as a child? I was very attached to it.

Yes, I did! derspatchel asked me the same question. I suspect it may have formed some of my strong feelings on the subject.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask that too. I read it, and I think even read the sequel.

Oddly, in a bit of parallelism, a friend was eating this at Contata this weekend. A long discussion about the kashrut of locusts ensued.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

In Mexico I would occasionally eat a bag of crickets in chili sauce. They were crunchy and tasted like chili sauce.

[sovay]

In Mexico I would occasionally eat a bag of crickets in chili sauce. They were crunchy and tasted like chili sauce.

I am not judging anyone who enjoys crickets. I like many things that are crunchy and full of capsaicin.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Are locusts kosher but crickets not? That ... is a distinction I would find it difficult to draw.

(Confession: I have eaten crickets. In Taiwan. After the older generation does its tai chi in the park, you see lines of them walking through the grass peering intently, with bags in their hands. Catching crickets. Whether they eat them at home or sell them to the restaurants, I am uncertain, but fried crickets are very much available in restaurants.)

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Leviticus 22 says both are fine--assuming my translation is right. (And yes, I looked this up on The Brick Testament)

[sovay]

Leviticus 22 says both are fine--assuming my translation is right.

I have always only heard locusts.

[sovay]

Are locusts kosher but crickets not? That ... is a distinction I would find it difficult to draw.

I believe locusts are the sole kosher insect, although there is some confusion over the specific species. The question was resolved to enough rabbinical satisfaction to include them in this feast, however, and incidentally I am very happy that whole thing occurred. I had no idea there was a carp that is supposed to taste like pork. I'm very curious now. Also the idea of years of scientific research in the service of religious observance. That's not usually the way that combination goes.

Confession: I have eaten crickets.

I still think you're cool!

but fried crickets are very much available in restaurants.

The eating of insects overall is something that makes a lot of sense to me: they're plentiful, proteinaceous, and no more inherently creepy than eating most non-fish seafood. I mean, I think sea urchins are delicious. I think I would just have done better if Six Foods' first snacky foray into entomophagy had involved grubs or cicadas.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'd just as soon they stayed music makers, too. They create such a lovely shimmer of sound, whereas as food, they'd just be another quickly consumed snack.

[sovay]

They create such a lovely shimmer of sound, whereas as food, they'd just be another quickly consumed snack.

Yes!

And I understand this is wholly subjective; I eat many things which might otherwise beautify the world. But I'm not trying to persuade people to introduce them into their diet, might be the difference. I don't know. Maybe I just feel protective toward crickets.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I've never really thought of eating crickets, but once you put it that way I'm not sure I'd want to, either.

I'd like to try fried locusts sometime, myself, and I'm kind of curious about cicadas. I read something once where the author and his friend were in a market in Burma eating one or the other--I'm ashamed to admit I don't recollect which insect was in question--which had been deep fried in oil flavoured with chiles and garlic. I think it might have been Richard Sterling's _Dining with Headhunters_ (1995).

Mei Mei sounds delicious. Wish they had a branch in CT.

[sovay]

I'd like to try fried locusts sometime, myself, and I'm kind of curious about cicadas. I read something once where the author and his friend were in a market in Burma eating one or the other--I'm ashamed to admit I don't recollect which insect was in question--which had been deep fried in oil flavoured with chiles and garlic.

I'd eat either. Besides, most things deep-fried in chili and garlic are delicious.

Mei Mei sounds delicious. Wish they had a branch in CT.

They barely have a branch in Boston. The food truck is the mainstay; the restaurant only opened last year. I'm hoping they stick around!