Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Come and get it

Food shortage? Get a fly swatter:
Eating insects such as wasps and grasshoppers has health benefits and should be encouraged in the Western diet, scientists have said.

The bugs are rich in protein and some minerals and are lower in cholesterol than beef or pork.

Research carried out at the National Autonomous University of Mexico found that 1,700 species are eaten in at least 113 countries across the world, usually as a substitute for meat.

In Mexico, grasshoppers are sold by the pound in markets and fried before being eaten while the larvae of giant butterfly sell for the equivalent of £12.50-a-plate in some restaurants.

Colombians eat ants, which they grind and spread on bread, and termites while Filipinos are partial to grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.

....David George Gordon, a Seattle-based naturalist and author, says: "Insects are the most valuable, underused and delicious animals in the world.

"Maybe we in the West are the weirdos."

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