Do people eat bugs?
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On this show, we take questions from kids all over the world who want to know something, and we help guide you all to the answers. At the end of last week's episode about cicadas, our guest, insect scientist and entomology professor Dan Gruner, mentioned that cicadas are edible. I've eaten them raw, and they have a really nutty flavor.

And I've also had them prepared various ways. And when the right chef prepares them, then they're actually very tasty. So if you're in cicada country this summer, maybe you want to try them. Today, we're going to give you a short bonus episode to explore the idea of eating insects. Now, the idea of eating insects may sound a little different from what some of you are used to. And some adults listening might be thinking, ew, no way.

But others listening to this are probably like, yeah, no problem. I already eat insects. People eat bugs all over the world, even in the United States. But you don't have to take my word for it. Hi, everyone. I'm Joseph Yoon, edible insect ambassador at Brooklyn Bugs. And what we love to do is make all sorts of delicious and nutritious food with insects.

And for those of you that think that that might be a little strange, I don't know if it would help to know that there are billions of people around the world that actually eat insects.

Joseph didn't grow up with insects on his dinner plate, but he became a chef many years ago. And when he learned about a report from the United Nations about the benefits of eating insects, he started cooking with them. And then he became, as he says, an insect ambassador. If we were just to say, oh, eat this because it'll make you healthy and it's good for the planet, I don't think a lot of people will go like, oh, yay, I have to try that.

But if we were to say it's delicious and it's good for the planet and it's good for you, then I think we're off to a hopping good start. More from Joseph in just a minute. But let's get to your questions. Hi, my name is Yael. I'm nine years old. I live in Badabong, Cambodia in Southeast Asia. And my question is, will humans eat birds?

Insects in the future? Not just in the future, but in the past and the present, too. In fact, I've seen insects being served right where you live, Yael, in Cambodia.

When I was traveling there about 20 years ago now, there were lots of insects in the markets. And I know spiders are arachnids, not insects, but they're sometimes kind of grouped together in our minds. And on one bus ride I was on in Cambodia, we were offered up fried tarantulas as a snack at one of the stops along the way. I didn't try the tarantulas, but I do enjoy eating roasted crickets with seasoning. They're a tasty, crunchy little snack.

Historically, insects have been a very important part of the diet for people in many parts of the world. And some researchers think they're going to be an important part of our future diet too, as more and more humans inhabit our planet, and we need to find ways to feed all of them. And we need to find sustainable ways to grow our food that doesn't harm the environment as much as some of our current farming practices.

Now, of course, some people, vegetarians, don't eat any meat from animals. And people who are vegan don't consume anything at all from animals, like milk, eggs, or honey. And they may not use or wear things like leather shoes or wool sweaters made from animal products.

you can definitely get protein and nutrients from other food sources. And lots of people believe eating no meat or less meat is going to be key to making sure our Earth has the resources it needs to stay strong in the future.

But for people who do want to consume meat, insects could be a good choice. They typically take less land, less water, and less food to grow. And they're a really great source of protein. Hi, my name is Cora, and I'm six years old, and I'm from Houston, Texas. And my question is, what is protein in food?

Protein is one type of nutrient, along with things like fats and carbohydrates, that your body needs to survive. And we get these nutrients from our food. Protein helps you build, strengthen, and repair your muscles and organs. Certain types of food have more protein than others. Things like eggs, chicken, yogurt, beans, nut butter, and tofu are good sources of protein.

And it turns out insects are, as I said, another really great source. But one thing I should mention before we get to a recipe. Insects are arthropods, meaning they have an exoskeleton, a hard shell on the outside of their body, instead of a skeleton inside like we have. Shellfish are also arthropods. So if you know you have a shellfish allergy, you might be allergic to insects as well, and you shouldn't eat them.

it's probably a good idea to check with an adult before trying any new food. Now, if you think you have never eaten an insect before and never will, not so fast. Red food coloring in your candy and red velvet cake. Do you know where that comes from? That's Joseph Yoon again. It comes from the cochineal.

It's labeled as carmine, and it's actually a crushed insect that creates that red color. Not all red candies have carmine, but many candies and even lipsticks and other red and pink makeup use the dye from these insects to get their color. So you may have already eaten a bug and just not known it. Up next, what can you make if you're curious about eating bugs on purpose?

This is But Why. I'm Jane Lindholm, and today we are exploring edible insects. Not everyone chooses to eat animal protein, but many people do, and insects are getting another look as we think about ways to have sustainable food that doesn't take as much room and as many resources to grow. One of the people working on helping folks stomach this idea is Joseph Yoon, a chef who created an organization called Brooklyn Bugs.

When I caught up with Joseph last week, he was visiting Springfield, Illinois, to see the cicadas that have come out across many parts of the eastern U.S. And he had just made himself a tasty snack. What we did is we made an Old Bay cicada with butter, chili peppers, scallions, and garlic. And we're going to use this to top off our avocado toast.

The cicadas have this like real vegetal flavor and nutty flavor. And if you think about it, since they were eating plants for 13 years, they're going to be kind of veggie-like in flavor. And they have like a nice little crunch to them as well. Not super crunchy like a nut, but a little crunchiness. And it takes a lot of the flavor that we cook it in. So it also has like a nice like garlicky, savory flavor, but crunchy.

This is a very special and very delicious dish. We don't have any of these cicadas where I'm based here in Vermont, but I wanted to see if I could entice Melody and Kiana into enjoying some bug-based delicacies with me. So Joseph suggested we get some crickets or grasshoppers and do what he did with the cicadas. Fry them up with some aromatics and...

And aromatics are things like garlic and onions and ginger, things that will like really bring out the smell and really flavor your foods. And so a lot of your favorite dishes like spaghetti and meatballs or like lasagna or fried rice will often have aromatics to make it taste more yummy. Garlic and onions are a good addition to any meal in my book.

Another option was just to get some after school snacks. So I just have some apples and yogurt here. And what I decided to do is I'm going to put some toppings on these little apple snacks.

So I love that these grasshoppers have a little lemon-lime flavor and a little chili flavor. And I love that it adds a little extra crunch. And it's so delicious and amazing. Bon appetit. Sorry you can't join me through the computer screen, Jade. I definitely wanted to try out some of Joseph's suggestions. So I bought some cricket powder, high in protein, and made chocolate chip croutons.

I mean chocolate chirp cookies. This recipe calls for two and a quarter cups of flour. So I'm going to put one and three quarters cups of regular flour and then a half cup of cricket flour. The cricket protein is a little darker. It kind of looks like a beige-y brown color, like really dry dirt or something, or a little bit lighter brown than cocoa.

Okay, now that I have the dry ingredients all mixed together, I'm going to put the wet ingredients in my mixing bowl and blend them up. I blended everything together and baked the cookies. It was really tempting to eat them, but I resisted. In addition to the cookies, I also ordered some mixed bugs, black ants, crickets, and chapulines, grasshoppers.

Some of them were already ready to eat. But for the ants, I decided to mix half of those with flaky sea salt. And the other ants, I mixed with a chili lime spice called tajin. Then I took all of my snacks to the office and invited my friends to have lunch with me. Hi Kiana, hi Melody. Hello! Sounds like it's time for lunch. Alright, what do you want to try first? I would suggest maybe start with a slice of apple.

a little bit of yogurt, and then some ants with sea salt or my favorite, the ants with tahini. Melody, why don't you go first? What do you want to try? I'm going to try the apple and the yogurt and maybe a little bit of the ants on top. Okay. Let's give it a shot. Putting my yogurt on. I'm going to shake out some of these ants. Okay, here we go. They just kind of look like pepper flakes or like black sesame seeds. They look like little black dots, and I'm going to trust you that these are ants.

All right, let's give it a shot. It's pretty good. It basically just tastes like salt. Yeah. You don't really even know that they're there. What do you want to try, Kiana? I think I'll go for the toast with guacamole. What do you suggest for me to try? I'm no expert, but I would suggest either the adobo grasshoppers or the chili lime tajin ants, or both. Let's go for both. Okay. Sounds crunchy. It's pretty good. Pretty zesty from...

The tajin ants. And I will say that the bread is masking the crunchiness of the crickets. We tried all the different varieties on our apple snacks and avocado toast, and they were great. And then we had the cookies for dessert, complete with a few flakes of salty ant mix on top.

So what do you think? Are you up for some chocolate chirp cookies? I can tell you that my kids loved them, even the ones with the ants on top. They even took their cookies to school to impress their friends. But it's hard to dislike anything with chocolate chips, right? There are just so many ways to cook with insects. I like to think that the only thing that stops us

is our own mind and our imagination of what they can look like. If you decide to give insects a try, don't just go out into your yard or the sidewalk and grab a bug and pop it in your mouth. Most insects used for food have been farmed to make sure they're healthy and don't have pesticides or other junk on them. So you'll want to find a good, reliable source for your bugs. There are lots of them online. And remember not to eat any insects if you have a shellfish allergy.

If you decide to try one of these snacks, send us a picture and let us know. And if insects aren't your thing for whatever reason, don't worry. This is our last bug show for a while. Our next episode is a bit of a palate cleanser, you could say. We'll be talking about citrus fruits and how they grow. That's it for this special bonus episode. Thanks to Joseph Yoon, founder of Brooklyn Bugs, for teaching us a little bit about edible insects.

But Why is produced at Vermont Public and distributed by PRX. Our team includes Kiana Haskin, Melody Beaudet, and me, Jane Lindholm. Joey Palumbo produces our YouTube series, But Why Bites. We'll be back in one week with an all-new episode. Until then, stay curious. From PR.