Yes, those are bugs on your menu.
Not crawling on your menu, no. They鈥檙e right there in print.
While insects are usually banned from restaurants, a few high-end eateries in D.C. now offer dishes featuring six-legged fare. Chapulines (a.k.a. grasshoppers) are on the menus at Poco Madre and at Jose Andres鈥� Oyamel Cocina Mexicana.
Poco Madre has also used worms found on agave plants.
And while it鈥檚 understandable to turn your nose up at this, know that it鈥檚 not all that unusual in other nations. 聽estimates that 2 billion people in 113 countries regularly eat at least one of 2,000 species of bugs. That鈥檚 because they鈥檙e cheap, they鈥檙e plentiful, and 鈥� they鈥檙e good for you.
鈥淣utritionally, what’s really great about insects is that they’re high in protein, they provide healthy fats, and the best thing is that they have a much smaller impact on our environment,鈥� said Sally Squires, who writes for the . 鈥淪o they take less land, water and energy to really grow or create.鈥�
That sustainability might be one reason why Europeans are coming around to the idea, according to a recent study. Wider acceptance stateside will require some legislative adjustments.
鈥淎 lot of the existing food laws don’t allow for insects to be in foods for obvious reasons,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o that’s going to be a challenge going forward, but in terms of being plentiful, being cheap, being able to sustain the world, I think we could see a lot more bugs on the menu.鈥�
But how do they taste?
Per Squires, chapulines have a smoky flavor and are 鈥渁 little bit like shrimp.鈥� (While they鈥檙e served as street food and eaten like popcorn in Oaxaca, here in D.C., they get a classier treatment: saut茅ed in shallots and tequila, and put atop guacamole. They’re also served on tostadas.)
As for the worms, they yield 鈥渒ind of an umami flavor,鈥� similar to Parmesan cheese, seaweed or miso.
Still find the idea of eating them to be icky? Well, you鈥檝e probably eaten some already 鈥� in the form of carmine, a red food coloring that is made from bugs.
“We’ve all been eating it for a very long time,” Squires said.
