You know how sometimes you think, "Oh, I wanted to check out the trailer for that new movie," so you go on YouTube and then 1.5 hours later you find yourself glued to your computer screen as the baffling end of the internet approaches? Mealworms for food, guys. And you can grow them on your own countertop! What a time we live in!
I have a number of questions about this. First, is this really a thing? Do people - I mean people in developed countries - intentionally grow their own bugs to eat? Second, why would you ever want to? I've eaten bugs. It was a fun, novel experience. I cannot imagine repeating that on a daily basis. Third, how does one prepare mealworms? Do you just eat them raw? Are they served chilled on a lettuce leaf? Do you grind them up and make patties out of them?
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I can answer all of those questions! Yes. This is a real thing. People do actually choose to eat insects in a movement called Entomophagy. It seems there are a number of people who are uncomfortable with how animals are slaughtered for food (a completely understandable position) and therefore decide to get their protein from bugs (a somewhat less understandable position). One blog I checked gave instructions on how to prepare your mealworms, and indicated that although we aren't sure if insects feel pain we should treat them as if they do. Therefore, freezing them to death is the best way to ensure they are ready for the table.
Having verified that mealworm ingestion happens in real life, and gaining some insight as to why people might choose to do that, I decided to search for mealworm recipes. The odd thing here was that although there are many sites that explain how to make your own mealworm farm, leading me to imagine there were some ways to prepare and eat large quantities of mealworms, I've really only been able to find "snack" type recipes like "Mealworms with Garlic and Chilli in Butter," and "Dry Roasted Mealworms." Others suggest dipping them in chocolate or sprinkling them on soup.
I dunno, Entomophagists. A home mealworm "farm" or "hive" seems kind of a waste of counter space. Let me know when you've found a way for me to make these little critters a main dish, and maybe we can talk. Probably not though. Because gross, dude.
