Profile - a formerly widowed and remarried returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Nepal; have been a stay-at-home father for the past 16 years; am afflicted by a serious autoimmune condition, but can manage with a cane or walker; have four children ranging from 14 to 19, three sons and one step-daughter; play guitar (not too well, but enjoy it); live in the mid-atlantic region, but prefer the west coast; have been a vegetarian of various stripe for over 25 years, but currently consider myself a 'carrion-vegetarian,' that is, one who will occasionally eat the flesh of fish, fowl, or beast if it has been leftover and forgotten in the fridge well past anybody's intent to consume. These are some of the things that I carry.
Sometimes it feels like my life experiences, both big and small, will separate me in ever smaller groupings till this unique little snowflake melts or blows away. But then I will reach out, talk to another homo sapiens sapiens and find that in fact the chasm which divides really isn't there. How
vast our shared humanity is. However, there are some issues I might broach that almost without exception will paint me into my tiny idiosyncratic corner. Such as this post. Why do I persevere in this manner? Is it boredom, a desire to shock and awe my dear reader? To stand up and be counted, occupy
myself? Probably some pedestrian blend of the above, and more. Or perhaps less.
Without further ado, back to the 'meat' of this post. What is an
entomophagist? (And, will this discussion wedge me off even further from the 99%?) It's a nice new (to me) word I recently picked up from an article in the New Yorker with the same title as this post. And means one who eats insects. As noted above, I've practiced vegetarianism for much of my life, mostly lacto-ovo, and for some years I also ate fish. Recently went back off fish, due to the very dire state of worldwide fisheries. However, I will occasionally eat the leftovers off the plate of a friend or relative, right after they tell the waiter '
sure, I'm done.' Maybe a crunchy fish head, some fat off of a steak, salmon skin - whatever, before it goes to the trash. That's me, the last stop before the dumpster.
Well, some many posts ago I mentioned trying the '
chapulines', or grasshopper tacos at the gourmet Mexican restaurant Oyamel here in D.C. I was working on my 'life list' of bizarre foods (not to mention taking my then girlfriend/now wife Dwan out for a Valentine's day dinner. Go figure, I ate bugs, and
still she married me!). And they were pretty good. Recently we returned to the restaurant with a gift card we'd received from a friend. True confession, I ordered the 'hoppas' again! To be honest, it didn't taste as good as the first time, so I probably won't be going back for more anytime soon, if ever.
I have a question though, namely, are bugs people too? That is, are they sentient beings? And, more specific to my brand of vegetarianism, are they endangered? According to the New Yorker article (as far as my weak memory serves) they are a very healthy source of protein and other nutrients. And have been eaten throughout the ages, both cooked and raw, even to this very day in some cultures. There are even entomophagists in this country, and they meet for occasional cooking competitions, serving up morsels both savory and sweet like the delectable pictured here:
The article claims that insects are an ecological source of these nutrients, but I wonder just how sustainable they would be if everybody started eating them. I mean a
lot of them every day. And, if they had to be transported hundreds of miles, freezer packed, or otherwise processed, for the average consumer to be able to incorporate them into their busy lives? (For more about the article, and some cool audio and video, check out:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/08/eating-insects-entomophagy-video.html - it's pretty short.)
If this sounds like a bit too much bother, for little or no gain, how about this? Drop a roach into your next smoothie, blend it beyond recognition, and if there is a crunch, tell yourself it's a blackberry seed. Still feeling skittish? Maybe start with an ant, and work your way up the food chain? I can feel the chasm widen as I think of you pondering this... But wait, let me paraphrase Solzhenitsyn: the line which separates disgusting from delicious runs through the heart of every bug!
