Family Tree Food & Stories Podcast, Episode #46: Foods That Bug Us.

 Would you dare serve deep-fried tarantulas at your next family gathering or host a bug banquet at your holiday open house? Then again, could crickets replace your Jiffy Pop movie night Popcorn? And could a bug change the color of your favorite snack food? Thank you. RFK Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Stay tuned. There's a lot more in store in this next episode.

And yes, this episode might bug you out with some more family food traditions and stories. Stay tuned.

[00:00:00] Hey Sylvia? Yeah. Ready to eat something weird and unusual.

Hey, yeah, maybe a new tradition. I'm intrigued. We're gonna talk about

something, aren't we? That could become the tradition of tomorrow.

. Better than Thanksgiving, Turkey.

Although that's pretty good too. But ? Well, let's go back. Let's imagine the future of family gatherings and dishes around creme freshs with a little. Crawlies, like live ants on top of them they do that in Noma, Denmark, or deep fried tarantulas.

Could be a good starter for Thanksgiving. But today's show is all about

things that are buggy, or maybe they're not bugging me, but we can eat bugs, right?

Yeah, absolutely., It is taking hold with young people, 18 to 34. They're gonna be running the world someday, even though that's old folks find a little bit of a yuck thing. Actor. But then on the other hand, you never know a little cricket crusted, fried chicken or a pecan pie made with mealworms, instead of not saying I never hurt anybody.

But, anyway, along the way, [00:01:00] we've heard a couple of stories, haven't we? And I can't wait to share some of those about people we know

who actually eat bugs or maybe even accidentally did.

Well, yeah. You know the old story? There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Maybe she'll go back for seconds.

But anyway, let's talk about starting a summer tradition on watermelon salad with bamboo worms. Well, that one was inspired in Thailand. although I have to say, we have been growing a garden in our backyard and I have discovered worms in, well, they're in the watermelon, ,

I probably should have cracked it open, started saying, Bob, guess what's for dinner and. also had a Mealworm burger, which did not make it to the global menu. But I have to tell you, I'm not sure I would eat a Mealworm burger

well, you know what? Just if you don't want to do that or you don't wanna travel to Denmark to eat at Noma, here's what you can do. You can start a snack tradition at home. How about some sauteed grasshoppers with garlic, sea salt and Chili oil, or crispy roasted crickets and [00:02:00] olive oil., It could be the new popcorn for movie night.

Yay.

I am not going to the movies with you, darling.

I. But you know, bugs have been around for a long time and you know, there's nothing worse. I shouldn't say there's nothing. Maybe it's a good thing when you go to a summer picnic 'cause we are in the summertime then all of a sudden the flies gather round and you're shooing them off.

Well, you know, maybe you should just try and catch 'em and I don't know. But. That said there, the tradition goes back actually way to biblical times, where I know you have found some information about John the Baptist who ate grasshoppers and honey, and yes, that's in the Bible. But there's also, the whole focus was, you know, is that really true?

Because I did a little digging and found out not in the dirt for bugs, but I did find that maybe it wasn't that he ate grasshoppers or locusts. But he ate locust beans, which was

part of a tree, like a bean on a tree. But you've got a little bit more detail on that one

too.

Well, okay, let's just have a [00:03:00] little fun with John the Baptist. Okay. Um, let's say he did eat grasshoppers or a close cousin called locusts. Locusts are kind of all of. The Bible. We'll have to research that sometime. It's kind of interesting. But they said, and there is another myth that's grown up around John the Baptist, whether true or not, let's go ahead and let's just promote it.

, He was a forger and because he was a bit of a rebel and he didn't want to. Kiss up to the wealthy people and the ones in charge. So he just ate the stuff in the wild and that's why they

called it wild honey. I guess he would find it, you know, like wild beehives and stuff, and

Well, , there is such a thing as wild honey, and, people eat bees and bugs that are in the honey. . But there is such a thing of wild honey. And the wild honey is the honey that you find. Not in a normal, well, I should normal, but a commercial hive, like we had beehives, we talked about that.

So that would not be wild honey. But if the bees escaped and. A hive in a tree. That would be wild honey. Or if the bees escaped. And sometimes you hear stories about people finding the bees in their [00:04:00] house and then all the honey that's stuck between the eaves of the house. Well, that's wild honey too. But again,. It's a bug thing. And so slightly , off target here, but even still when you get honey, there's always little pieces of dead bees in there like wings.

Have a bite of a, an antenna or whatever.

We're eating bugs, we don't even know it.

Yeah, well, you know, they join with a lot of other foods, and we're gonna talk about this a

little more later, but just because you're talking about that right now, FDA does regulate bug parts in food, but bug parts are in food, they're in the environment, so, you can't escape them in the manufacturing process.

And so they become part of it. And, , , if you're making honey, for instance, commercial honey. Out of, whatever bees and whatever hives, they're probably gonna have some bug parts in them because that's part of nature. And I think that's part of the reason that we're becoming more used to the idea of eating bugs because we're already doing it and it's embedding itself , in our consciousness

and chocolate, [00:05:00] coffee, beans, all kinds of things that grow out there, that we turn into the kind of foods that we eat.

Yeah. Well, , and on that note, speaking of the FDA, is that there's this whole movement that JFK Jr is doing to try and move the coloring from artificial colors to natural colors. Yeah. They're natural colors , that are in fruits and vegetables that we use. , But, there's also coloring that comes from the bug shells,

Yeah, that's absolutely right. and it's kind of interesting to take that to another step further. There's some pushback from the M&M company because they say that people like. Bright colors. Now they gotta find them a big time, bright bug to turn into those colors, you know. Let's do that, Nancy.

Let's start a movement to find the most colorful bug to crush up and put in M &

I think we should start, we should start a new business. , We should

call it , the bug farm, right? And maybe we can make them glow in the dark or so That would be really cool. Glow in the dark M&Ms. Could you [00:06:00] imagine with. Glowing, the dark

bugs, kind of like fireflies,

although, , I don't know how the fireflies light up, but,

Well, Yeah. But you take them up,

, Maybe we can make sure they stay electrified , well, it's not really electrified, but there's some sort of chemical thing in that bug that makes them , light up. So I think we need to start talking to, Mars, about having. Day glow or, or LightUp

at night, M&Ms, I think that, would be so cool.

It's so today, to do that, our 18 to 34 year olds would love it,

Well, I think the over 18 to 34 year olds would love it too. When you can't find your glasses in the middle of the night, you can find your , glow in the dark m and ms, and you're all set. Who needs, who needs a salad for dinner? I'll just have m and ms anyway. So John the Baptist was a forger.

And, forging is really important in general, but, you know, forging for, bugs is not something i, I typically do, although in camping we talked about a camp show. we did go snipe hunting in camp but bugs and traditions, it's very difficult , to not look at a tradition where a

bug isn't [00:07:00] involved,

Well,

In some way, shape, or form.

but I think where we draw the line here, and I, for instance, find it to be a very yuck thing, I'm sorry, out there. If you are above. Lovers, but , to start that tradition when you're at my point in life. But if you're just starting out and you wanna have a bug party and a bug eating party, then I kind of get it. And, , interesting stories like our friend Leo eats green stink bugs. Can you imagine eating a stink bug?

Leo we love Leo, but he's a little weird.

Yeah. Leo, you are. Um, you know,

but Stinkbugs, I just gotta say, in Mexico, they're a delicacy and they actually have a stink bug. Now it's got a bigger, fancier name.

now it's a stink bug, not a stick bug.

It's a stinkbug. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait a minute. Lemme check.

Yeah, they had swarms of them in Connecticut for a while

that it's like ladybug swarms that were,

I would say popular. But they got around for a while and then,, the stinkbugs were out there.

I know it. It's a think of eating a stink bug and there's a stink bug festival and [00:08:00] you could be a stink bug queen that they would crown at the festival.

stink bug queen. I wonder what my crown would look like.

go for it.

It would have to have all the, , the fireflies on the top of my crown.

Here's a fun thing. , you could start a tradition if you've ever eaten a bug and you found out you survived it, right? Who hasn't been riding on a bicycle and a bug flew in their mouth. The best story I heard though was last night at my restaurant, I was telling the ladies about our upcoming episode on bugs, and they were all yuck.

I mean, it was like, no, no way.

And then a woman told this story. Now in this part of the country, cicadas are out and about,

Oh, they're

Yeah, this guy, but they're very edible and so she had a cicada fly into her mouth and get stuck in her teeth.

they're big.

Yeah. I mean, ouch.

Oh God. Yeah. I saw one of the cicada shells on the side of our house the other day and they just skied me out. But they are, I can't imagine one of those flying in your mouth. I have had a fly fly in my mouth. Yes. That's not good. we've all had something flying in our [00:09:00] mouths.

I don't necessarily think. I intentionally swallowed. still around to talk about it.

Yeah, I mean, yeah. Now. What's important to know is that s are edible. Crickets are edible, but you gotta be careful where you get them. You don't wanna go in the backyard. Oh, honey, I'm going out to get some dinner, and then.

Make sure it's at Chick-fil-A or something like that. Okay. Just check, check, verify that that's where he's going to get dinner. because you know they have pesticides on them and then,, they're subject to, you know, things that we don't know. And I have to tell the quick story. A friend of mine had a cricket farm and he's going great guns with it.

And then a virus wiped it

out and he was getting into the ed and

that's sad.

That's very sad. So we're gonna take a quick break as we mourn for the cricket farm and we'll come back with a few more live critique. Rey creepy crawlers everything is edible. Literally. We'll be right back.

Hey Sylvia. So we we ended up with , the cricket [00:10:00] farm that had a virus and we're mourning the crickets. , Also thinking about what are the next bug eating traditions. I, I'm not planning on serving any at my Christmas party, but . , Maybe I should try. I might, I might get rid of the people that I don't wanna know, but then they wouldn't be invited to begin with.

So what are some of the bug eating traditions that you're seeing that are happening right now and what makes them so purposeful and meaningful? I mean, are there meanings to bugs? I don't know.

Well, you know, one thing about the cricket farm too is, these things have been in a, in existence for a long time. We, when we did the research here, we found a lot of sites just funny names, crunchy Critters, Gemini, bug Bull, all those things are out there and they sell

Mm-hmm.

And crickets and grasshoppers are probably the two most popular. And mealworms. Mealworms

are different from earthworms by the way. Earthworms are what you find on the sidewalk when it rains. And they're those kind of long, skinny things. And they don't have parts, well, the mealworm has little tiny parts. It's got like little [00:11:00] tiny grooves as it

little exoskeleton to them,

by the way, we'll get to that too in the health benefits 'cause they're pretty,

pretty cool. But, so. you've got all this stuff, out there and exotic animals have been eating c cri crickets for a

long time, and they have to eat very pure critic, uh, crickets. I can't say crickets, but you know what I'm saying.

yeah, but I have been called an animal at times, but maybe not an exotic one, so maybe I should be eating bugs.

well eating that fly probably didn't make you a bug eater. However, around the world,

how can 2 billion bugs be wrong? 'cause they are being eaten by 2

species of bugs are being eaten around the world.

2000 species of bugs are being eaten around the yeah.

That's, amazing that we think about it. you have the National Geographic and you see those big disgusting things that are in the the dead trees, and they're about the size of, I don't know, a small mouse. I mean, as long as we're talking about eating disgusting things, right.

I wouldn't eat a [00:12:00] mouse either, but I guess if I was hungry enough, I'd probably have to consider that. As long as it wasn't eating rat poison first,

but still

go to the pet store.

this is a very uplifting show. Right.

Hey, um, can I mention one food? I just happened upon an article in a magazine. I read the weird stuff. I read weird and it was the life of a fig. You know how you eat figs?

Okay? Now, I'm not a scientist, so I'm gonna get this all

I think They require

bugs

do the, it's the

female larvae of, oh, I can't

remember the name of the bug, but it lays its eggs inside a fig, and then the males of the species they burrow a hole in the fig and they get out and that allows them, they die and the females get out and go pollinate other figs.

Well, what happens is the mom never gets out. And guess what? When you eat a fig, you are eating in part,

likely a mummy fried, whatever that bug is. I'll have to get

So, so wait a second.

It's the male bug [00:13:00] that stays in the fig or the

female

female mama

in the

The female mama.

The males die after burrowing out of the fig. They create an

So they get, they escape and they go belly

up someplace else, and the girls lay the eggs inside the fig,

the babies must get out then though,

Okay, let's back up. The females get out, the males die after they burrow the hole and the females escape. Except for the big mama and the mama. Uh. It. does. She doesn't get out. She becomes part of the fig. So you're

potentially, maybe not always, but potentially

eating the mama who has become mummified inside the fig.

. I do like figs, but I will think twice the next time I eat or grill a fig thinking, ah,

this bugs taste absolutely delicious. Yeah.

mummies. But there are reasons why we can look forward to eating bugs, , because we're gonna save the world by doing it. Right. We're into that.

Well, , I was watching a show the other [00:14:00] night about, , a butcher in Italy and, , very difficult to, to butcher a cow right. And see that happen. But I don't feel so bad about,

Mm-hmm.

well, I, I do. You don't butcher bugs, you just eat the thing. Right.

That's right.

They're so tiny. You don't even know. You don't see blood and guts.

I don't feel So bad about it.

Yes.

here, here's some reasons, . Environmental stewardship

bugs use less land, fewer greenhouse gases, and we all know what that means. Those big gold cows out there, you know,

bug farts.

that's right.

Uh oh. less waste. And adventure. , Our young people love adventure and because we're exposed to so much across the world now through the internet, they're seeing other, like Asia, I think is the number one eater of bugs. North America is

second, but that's largely because of Mexico. America's

not,

Oh well. Right. And we have to say north America, not, the United States. Right, because, well, there's some weird people here in the states too. The tarantulas and, , scorpions out west, which are supposedly very good and [00:15:00] crunchy. You know, Fred Scorpions on a stick and, Oh God. You know, Californians are also weird, but I guess , that's part of the Mexico thing, so they come over the border.

Mm-hmm.

Sorry. If you're from California, don't take it personally. Please. Just have another glass of tequila and down the bug,

Mm-hmm.

Because

the worm,

they're,

the number one state, and your little Florida is number five, by the way. And bug eaters.

We're kind of weird in Florida too. I mean

there are some strange, there are some strange birds or strange bugs in Florida. I have seen, we have grasshoppers that jump on our, I've seen a grasshopper jump on my window outside. The office must be three inches long. They're huge and I gotta get, other than catching them in the eating them, there's gotta be another way to get rid of them.

It was eating my agave plant the other day. Oh no, , that wasn't a, that wasn't a grasshopper. It was a, um, it was one of those little lizards that , Bob caught. It just devouring my baby agave plant that I'm trying to grow into a giant agave, and I was like, oh,

I'm gonna have to start eating lizards too.

[00:16:00] Okay,

Yeah,

They're already eating your alligators, you know, all over the woods.

Well, alligators are a different thing. They've been

around for a long time. Also have bugs. So let's talk about some safety , 'cause we talked a little bit about safety as far as what's going on with, for bugs. But there actually are some ways to make sure that, You're protected with proper bugs.

They're bug farms and, there are also bugs that are, I guess, approved by the FDA as far as

edibles correct. Sylvia?

There are, and the FDA is really kind of behind the eight ball right now,

They're getting regulations as more and more people eat these edible bugs. But right now, really what they do mostly is regulate the parts that can go into chocolate or, the

Parts is parts

by the way, I was gonna remind you, . If you're gonna eat one of those grasshoppers, pull its legs off first.

Oh, they're spiny. Yeah.

You don't want one. Yeah. You don't want those.

There's not a lot of meat on a cricket leg anyway, so it's not like a chicken leg.

Well, you dip it and honey, you and [00:17:00] John the baptist, , I mean, big old things like that, but take the legs off. All right. So FDA is, um, is evolving and probably gonna get a lot more robust in that arena. It'd be interesting to see if RFK what he thinks of bug eating because it's so supposed to be so good for you.

yeah. it might be one of the three, food groups, you know. Protein bugs.

Yeah.

Vegetables and starches. Well, then crickets. Crickets are used a lot in protein bars and snack Apparently, right now, I guess the, you dry 'em out and mill 'em up and we don't even necessarily know about it. We talk about the protein from cow bones or cattle bones, or animal bones, which is, I guess that's also kind of disgusting when you think about it.

Right. But Yeah. So.

Harvesting bugs in the fall. Hi. As it's usually the springtime, the bugs come out. It's some middle of the summer that they're strong and, and big and, . But let's talk about some of the flavors of bugs. 'cause you've you did a little research. I did you actually taste test any of these things I have to

absolutely not. [00:18:00] I am not an adventuresome eater. When I went to Japan for a three week

gig, you know, I was there for three weeks with a bunch of colleagues from across the country, . So they asked me What do you want? We'll give you any food that you want at our various places.

We're gonna be stopping. I said I will not eat raw stuff. Just won't do it. So you know what I, they gave me each time, each meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, huge steaks.

I was like, I don't eat that either. I mean, I, you know, I eat some steak, but not huge

ones. But I would watch some of my colleagues eat live shrimp, and they called it dancing shrimp

Yeah,

And I'm just

like,

no, I'm not gonna do it. Now I know you can roast a, a grasshopper, you can

roast ants, you can use ants as garnishment on a dish. Uh, you can do,

Oh, wait a second. Roasting ants. I mean, that's kind of tough 'cause they fall

fall through the cracks.nancy, deal with it. Okay.

You got a restaurant, you should know this stuff.

Well, at the restaurant we've tried

pig's ears, you know

in the

Oh [00:19:00] yeah, I've had

Yeah. And we could never get them sold. They just said, you know, so,

yeah, I don't

think we're gonna be doing that anytime soon. We're very mainstream for a reason, I

think

I'll leave the pig's ears for the dogs. That's

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. but, but yeah. it's interesting

to see these taste profiles, mealworms mild and the , green stink bugs. As Leo so profoundly put, it tastes like apple flavored jolly Ranchers. No.

I do have to do a side by side taste comparison as

You gotta, you gotta hear this. Okay. Can I tell you this about the green bugs, the stinky bugs, they taste very bitter. Why would you wanna eat 'em?

And they taste like, and I don't know if you even know what this tastes like, I don't. Iodine, because they are so heavy loaded on iodine

oh, well I guess that's good for you though, right? Instead of iye

salt. So , you can eat the stink bugs. , Grasshoppers you said are popular, but crickets can also be ground into flour, kind of like our zucchini, Cricket, a cook, cricket, and zucchini bread.

Uh, just [00:20:00] we should mention some of the health benefits. 'cause I think

that may be the number one thing. , Although, you know, environmental concerns but they're not with us every day, but we are really a health oriented culture now, , and they're high density protein, higher density than like, say beef or anything like that, lower in calories.

And it's the fat, that's the good fat that you need. I can't even imagine a fat cricket. I've never seen a fat cricket, maybe. So anyway, we'll see micronutrients like B12, iron, zinc, and here's something. Bob brought

this to our attention, Bob, remember Bob's our unofficial advisor.

Okay.

Bob, my dear

Chi Bob.

Oh my Bob.

chitin or Chitin?

C-H-I-T-I-N. Guess what that is?

I believe that's the skin or the, outside. The

outside. The crunchy part, right?

That's exactly right. And it's very healthy. And they're examining it more and more and more, , as a prebiotic. A prebiotic that. Yeah. You know, there's there's probiotics, there's prebiotics. [00:21:00] I don't know, is there a post biotic? don't

know. Um, anyway, uh, but,

what, what they're thinking more and more is supporting gut health. And one of these scourge of humanity, at least in uh, our country is inflammation. It's the, cause of a lot of problems and health problems, and that's what they're examining. Crunchy exoskeletons, which are chiton, chitin, chiton, whatever. I keep wanting to say chitlin, but I don't think it's chitlin

Chitlin, no.

Anyway, you get the point.

Right. So bugs can actually be a very helpful tool for you as far as improved health. You know, next time I get on the tractor and go out and mow, first of all, we've gotta figure out how to put the mower on the back of the tractor. So we're at that stage of learning to become pseudo farmers and, instead of just sitting there with my mouth closed as we're mowing the front field, I might.

Go through the field with my mouth open and see what I can catch for dinner. At least a snack along the way maybe a cold one in the water pocket on the side. So, bug [00:22:00] eating. we're gonna start a new tradition, Sylvia, I think I'm gonna make some bugs for you and I'm gonna send them. Up to Kentucky, with

Mm-hmm. my cat and my dog will love them.

So there's a lot more in store besides bugs because you know what? Every good bar needs a bar fly, right? And our next show's gonna be about bars and beers. And yeah, we might have a few flies buzzing around. And you know what? Next time you're sitting at a bar having a beer with a friend, or maybe you don't know, a person sitting next to you just reach out and you grab that fly in. Chomp down and maybe you can start a new conversation Because that'll be our next show. Bars,, bugs, and beer.

That would be a conversation starter for real.

I think I'll have another beer on that one. We'll hear you soon. And please don't forget to press, subscribe and follow and share it with your friends because there's a lot more in store with every tradition. And yes, every meal has a story and every story has a feast. We'll see you soon and we'll hear you soon.

[00:23:00] Bye-bye.