Would you eat worms if the packaging was really cool?
Posted by Ben Garfinkel on Thursday, March 27th, 2008Tags for this Article: Bizarre, chocolate-covered-ants, edible, insectivore, Mopani, Travel
My wife, who doesn’t even eat lamb, sent me a link to a company called Edible. Divided into sections: Insectivore, Herbs & Spices, Aphrodesiac, Carnivore, Herbivore, and Apothecary, the company scours the earth for the rare, the exotic and unusual. How unusual? How about Ambergris Face Wash which comes from the hindgut of the Sperm Whale? It’s a natural phenomenon and the whales spit the secretion into the sea after eating Giant Squid.
Uh wait, what’s an Insectivore? Someone who eats bugs. Bug eating. Yeah, this is the best part. You want a chocolate covered scorpion or South African Mopani worms, this is the place to get them. The site indicates exactly where in the world the insects are from, how they are harvested and what they are traditionally used for, and how.
Seriously, the descriptions make me rather curious to try it. For example, ” The Ants are specially bred Polyrachis Black Ants, and they have a spicy peppery taste similar to chilli peppers…” Sign me up.
And, as mentioned, the packaging is really cool. Seriously, it takes the Fear Factor down a notch.
Posted on May 4th, 2008
Michael says:
So did you try these insects? I just ordered some from the company, so I’m curious what others think!
http://www.weirdmeat.com/
Posted on May 4th, 2008
Mark Busse says:
Of course! The ants are crunchy and covered in really good chocolate. but frankly quite tasty. The dried worms were a savory, but not something that excited me. Haven’t had a scorpion snack yet though.
Posted on May 4th, 2008
Ben Garfinkel says:
Actually, I found the ants, although tasty, left unpleasant bits of exo-skeleton much like popcorn skins stuck in my teeth. But hey, they’re ants! As for the worms, this is a traditional snack, so they are unadorned. I think they could have been more palatable with some kind of seasoning, but right out of the bag they lack flavour and had a kind of pet food smell and dry texture. I’m planning on using the balance of the bag of worms in a stew of some kind since this is the other recommended way to eat them. Not sure what we’re waiting for with the scorpion vodka and sucker. Maybe a dare?