Bug Appétit
As a restaurateur, the last thing you’d ever want to offer your guests as an amuse bouche is a crostini topped with bugs, right? Well, if recent dining trends are any indication, you may want to consider serving such a delicacy sooner than you might think. Every restaurant needs a niche, and many are discovering, plating up insects is working out for them.
Bring on the Bugs!
Some major American cities—Los Angeles, New York, Chicago—are already offering adventurous diners a more entomological culinary experience with restaurants that either specialize in or offer insects as part of their regular menu. Although this may seem shocking, the reality is that human beings have been eating bugs for as long as we’ve been, well, eating at all.
A wide variety of relatively common insects are actually perfectly safe to eat. Grasshoppers and their cricket cousins, ants, termites, earthworms, stinkbugs—even maggots, as stomach-churning as the idea may be—are generous sources of vitamins and protein.
A surprising 82% of Americans claimed they would be willing to eat insects, according to a recent study by La Trobe University in Australia and the University of Pennsylvania.
That might not be as surprising as it sounds. Most people recognize that much of the seafood they enjoy is, when you really get down to it, just sea-bugs. Shrimp, crabs and, as famously noted by David Foster Wallace in his 1996 essay “Consider the Lobster,” lobsters, are all arthropods, i.e., relatives of cockroaches, crickets, spiders, scorpions and millipedes.
Insects actually offer an extraordinarily eco-friendly source of protein and other nutrients. First of all, of the 2,100 or so species of insects that have been identified as edible, most of them pack about as much protein per ounce as America’s three mainstays: beef, pork and chicken.
Producing insects for food has very few of the negative environmental impacts of most animal-based food production. Even the insects themselves release far less noxious gas into the atmosphere, thus their contribution to climate change would be minimal compared to our current sourcing.
An Entomological Opportunity?
The bugs-as-entrée craze hasn’t quite hit New England yet, as there haven’t been any insect eateries popping up in Northeastern states like there have been elsewhere, although there are a few specialty stores that do supply consumable bugs for the home chef.
That means if the kind of progressive culinary attitude it takes to serve bugs in a restaurant is exactly the kind of cutting-edge venture that sounds fun to you, the market is wide-open and ready for conquering.
Of course, you’ll want to be sure to follow all local and federal regulations, which means sourcing your bugs from quality distributors. Remember, not every insect is edible (or like the old quote about mushrooms go, every insect is edible, but some only once). You’ll want to only serve properly vetted six-legged cuisine for the safety and health of your guests.
Not much of an appetite for bugs, especially when they’re invading your restaurant’s storage areas, kitchen and dining rooms? Check out our restaurant and retail food page for more information and to schedule a free quote.
