In a desperate attempt to attract readers, I eat crickets so I can write an article that mentions Angelina Jolie. How many Triond clicks do you get for eating a bug? (The answer as of 21 June 2012 is 36.) This article rechristened as a Nut House Insider article 6/21/2012. Enjoy!
Angelina Jolie's kids eat crickets
In an interview last July about her recent trip to Cambodia, Angelina Jolie told E! that her boys loved to eat fried crickets, a local delicacy. She's tried crickets herself: "... they're good--they are like a potato chip." She went so far as to say that she had to "ban cricket eating at one point" because she feared the boys would get sick from eating too many.
Jolie has always been a trendsetter. When she wore emerald earrings designed by Lorraine Schwartz to the Academy Awards, she inspired a horde of Internet entrepreneurs to offer knock-offs priced from $35 up. Cricket eating, however, hasn't quite caught on--but that doesn't mean that we aren't hearing the first chirps of a fad.
 |
| Do her boys eat crickets when mommy's back is turned?
|
I Become an Insectivore
In rural Georgia, rural grocery and convenience stores often carry live crickets--in a stand outside the building with minnows and other live bait. I'm not sure it's legal to vend them near food for humans. Only fish eat these crickets. Atlanta is a different story. Fishing with live bait in the Atlanta area is illegal. The law allows only artificial lures. No crickets are sold for bait, but pet stores stock plenty of crickets for reptile owners. I call these crickets "boutique" crickets because they are so much more expensive than bait crickets. The pet store/cricket boutique in the strip mall nearest me sells chocolate crickets at the counter (photo below). These crickets are not marked for human consumption, but the employees warn you that chocolate may not be good for pets.
|
| My iPhone Photo of Chocolate Insects |
Taste Test
AppearanceI bought two packages of crickets so I could place the contents of one package beside the other unopened package in a photograph. As you can see above, chocolate crickets are extremely unprepossessing. They look like the droppings of small animals. I can't imagine a plate presentation that would make them appetizing.
Flavor
When I put a chocolate cricket in my mouth, I tasted some very bland milk chocolate. I "pulled the trigger" and crunched the candy with my teeth. Immediately, I tasted very strong cinnamon. Cinnamon and chocolate overwhelm any flavor that the crickets might have, and so tasting the candy is much like biting a section of an Abuelita's hot chocolate tablet.
Texture
Texture is the big problem with chocolate crickets. After chewing the candy briefly, I was left with some crunchy bits that had the same mouth feel as straw. I continued chewing, but then declined to swallow. (If wine tasters can expectorate the vintage after a taste, bug tasters can too. It's only fair.)
Disappointment
I wanted chocolate crickets either to be so good that I'd want to introduce my friends to them or so disgusting that ingesting one would be memorable. I was disappointed on both counts. A chocolate cricket is at worst a mildly unpalatable non-food. Moreover, chocolate crickets aren't anywhere near as disgusting as the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. With apologies to readers of Japanese heritage, the most disgusting food I've ever eaten is natto, a dish made from gooey fermented soybeans. As almost any little kid will tell you, vegetables are more disgusting than anything else.
If you want to try chocolate crickets yourself ...
Should you desire to sample some chocolate crickets or other edible insects, you can buy them--at least in the U.S.-- on the Internet from Hotlix.com. You may also order by phone by calling 1-800-EAT-WORM (I'm not kidding). The company has a store in Pismo Beach, California. I found the following video, titled "Dad Eats Chocolate-Covered Cricket, Grosses Out Son," uploaded by zlivruquok. It shows the interior of the store.
In the above video, the father tells his son the cricket tastes like a chocolate-covered rice crispy. In the video below "Dennis eatting [sic] chocolate covered cricket!," uploaded by b00fo0, the taster has a different reaction that suggests the dad is lying:
All sources are linked. Please tell me about any broken links.
This article originally appeared on Triond's Sportales website:
http://sportales.com/sports/nut-house-insider-angelina-jolie-eats-crickets-so-i-try-them/
No comments:
Post a Comment