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Table-top insect breeder allows you to grow your own protein

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I know.

lobster-live-thumb.jpg


This bastard is grotesque but fuck is it delicious.



Eating_beetle_larvae.gif


Delicious. Hahahaha!!!!

Fuck you for making me watch this
 
Humans living in less than ideal conditions are known to do many things to try to get by in the world.

But be my guest, have fun with the diseases you can potentially get by eating insects, for the sake of following some faux "hunter-gatherer" diet for the gym.

What are you talking about, many people around the world eat insects because they enjoy them and are nutritious, not because they are scrounging around for nourishment...

I'll need some sources regarding the greater prevalence of diseases contracted by eating insects compared to meat, good luck with that one. Btw I don't actually eat insects, I said I would be willing to try them (eaten some before). I just like to correct logical fallacies and ignorance.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
"What the fuck is this?"

Hahaha, glad I'm not the only one to think that on that image. I couldn't eat the larve. Like in the OP's photo it's pretty apparent they're insects because of the multi-bumped texture.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I understand the rationale behind eating bugs, but when I look at that dish my brain can't help but think "You have bugs in your food."

I still think mushing them into something unrecognizable like sausage is the way to go. Just NEVER tell us what it is. Either that, or just sugarcoat it in some way, like "You've eaten worse in school cafeterias."
 

Mobius 1

Member
There is a hardwired prejudice against eating insects, at least for me.

But we eat things that are equally or more disgusting. Catfish, shimp, pork... most people would have their stomachs turn if they saw how they live and feed.
 

dewdrop

Banned
I've been reading articles about this push for "insect food" by the U. N. and these gym wierdos.

But this stuff just isn't natural. Humans have evolved to generally have a disgust of eating insects for good reasons.

Don't think you really know about evolution very well. Also, if you control the thing's whole life cycle, whatever reasons you'd have to not eat insects (disease vector mainly) evaporate. Get with the future!
 

Dresden

Member
What does this taste like, if it even relates well to anything? It looks alright to me. What's the texture like, too?

Chewy, and . . . nutty? Hard to think of a reference for the taste itself.

The canned version is vile, so the review above isn't wrong. Good stuff when fresh, though.
 

Pachinko

Member
Bugs in western culture are associated with food that has spoiled, turned rotten, etc.


The act of eating something that ingests expired food and is generally seen as a pest just doesn't sit well with people who can go spend a few bucks on a meal that does NOT contain that stuff.

I agree with some of the earlier posters in this thread though - the same western culture that thinks eating bugs is disgusting will happily spend big bucks eating gigantic underwater bugs , maybe it's just a size thing ? if you could catch dog and cat sized pill bugs in the desert or something would people eat them then ?
 
i ate caterpillars before so i'd do it. they tasted really earthy.

the only concern i would have is how much of it is absorbed by your body - like the exoskeletons seem to be a bulk of it. i read somewhere things like beef tendons aren't well absorbed by the body so they're nutritionally empty. don't know if that's true but i guess there would be same issues here.
 

Leynos

Member
Eel are just fish.

Washed and cooked insects are as safe to eat as anything else though. The disgusted poster above has probably eaten all manners of weird things in his food including beaver musk (listed as natural flavoring in the US) and Lac bug resin. A few grubs aren't going to hurt anyone.

I find it very amusing that people don't know that they eat some rather...unorthodox food items. Shellac coating on candy? Resin from the lac bug. Castoreum (AKA natural flavoring?) Anal sac juice from beavers. Cochineal, or charmine food coloring? Dried and ground up cochineal bugs.
 
As long as it is dead, cooked, and not moving, I'd try it. The last thing I want is the feel of something moving struggling to escape touching my mouth cavity and tongue as I eat my food.
 
I find it very amusing that people don't know that they eat some rather...unorthodox food items. Shellac coating on candy? Resin from the lac bug. Castoreum (AKA natural flavoring?) Anal sac juice from beavers. Cochineal, or charmine food coloring? Dried and ground up cochineal bugs.

If they processed these motherfuckers into something that looked nothing like an insect and then used that substance to produce some other type of food, sure, I'd probably eat it. But eating it while it even slightly resembles itself seems impossible for me.
 

Wiktor

Member
But this stuff just isn't natural. Humans have evolved to generally have a disgust of eating insects for good reasons.

Ermm..wrong. 80% of world's nations eat them. It's just few western countries that have problem with it.

I hope the move to insect meat will increase. It would be a good start to just make meatballs/burgers out of them to help with adaptation in western countries.
 

Sword Familiar

178% of NeoGAF posters don't understand statistics
I would maybe try it if you shredded them up and made bug mincemeat or something, but seeing them in their original form would just gross me out, honestly.
 

nickcv

Member
in the Island of Sardinia (Italy) they make a variety of cheese with maggots in it.
Some people say it's really tasty, I personally find it revolting.

Some people take the maggots out of the cheese before serving it, but some other times you actually get to see the maggots jumping in front of you and moving inside the cheese


the name of the cheese is "casu marzu" which basically means "rotten cheese"
rgWC6dy.jpg


http://youtu.be/GfzPzPkSX3s?t=3m20s

and if that was not completely clear, you eat the maggots alive
 

jerry113

Banned
Bugs in western culture are associated with food that has spoiled, turned rotten, etc.


The act of eating something that ingests expired food and is generally seen as a pest just doesn't sit well with people who can go spend a few bucks on a meal that does NOT contain that stuff.

I agree with some of the earlier posters in this thread though - the same western culture that thinks eating bugs is disgusting will happily spend big bucks eating gigantic underwater bugs , maybe it's just a size thing ? if you could catch dog and cat sized pill bugs in the desert or something would people eat them then ?

It's pretty ironic considering that a lot of those maggots found in sailors' biscuits were actually vital in providing protein for those malnutritioned seamen

And on, you really think that insects farmed in clean conditions would be a significant risk for disease? It's not like they're proposing you to eat insects caught on the street.

Come a few decades, it might not even be a matter of choice. Prices for things like beef and pork will skyrocket as it steadily becomes less viable to produce them. And it'll be even worse for the already depleted fish hatcheries.
 

Toxi

Banned
It's hilarious how people act like eating insects is icky or gross, but eating chopped up pig intestines isn't.

Blood sausage will always taste and look gross though.

But be my guest, have fun with the diseases you can potentially get by eating insects, for the sake of following some faux "hunter-gatherer" diet for the gym.
Insects generally don't carry human parasites or transmissible diseases even in the wild, probably because we generally don't eat insects. Unless the insect farm's on a garbage heap, they probably won't be diseased.

For comparison, here's a beef tapeworm.
Taenia_saginata_adult_5260_lores.jpg
 
Evolved or taught? You ever watch Bizarre Foods or even No Reservations?

People all around the world eat insects, and they do it because they like it not because the UN told them to

no one ever taught me insects were disgusting. I might eat ants, since they're nice, but flies, crickets, etc. no.
Bugs in western culture are associated with food that has spoiled, turned rotten, etc.


The act of eating something that ingests expired food and is generally seen as a pest just doesn't sit well with people who can go spend a few bucks on a meal that does NOT contain that stuff.

I agree with some of the earlier posters in this thread though - the same western culture that thinks eating bugs is disgusting will happily spend big bucks eating gigantic underwater bugs , maybe it's just a size thing ? if you could catch dog and cat sized pill bugs in the desert or something would people eat them then ?
Shrimp, lobster, crab and other crustaceans look beautiful. Land insects look ugly, if they were bigger it would be as disgusting.
Ermm..wrong. 80% of world's nations eat them. It's just few western countries that have problem with it.

I hope the move to insect meat will increase. It would be a good start to just make meatballs/burgers out of them to help with adaptation in western countries.
I hope the move will be to lab grown meat not insect meat.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Instead of trying to be more sustainable by moving on to insects, we should try to be more sustainable by simply cloning cows, chickens, and pigs to slaughter that will genetically have tastier meat, MORE meat per volume, and carry less diseases.
 

DJ_Lae

Member
I realize that this is a good idea and it would be something practical to have in my home.

However, I also find the concept of eating bugs to be fucking disgusting. And I realize this is silly because I'll eat shit like intestine.
 
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