This morning while I was having my coffee and slowly waking up, all of a sudden I felt something moving in the back of my throat! I had swallowed a fly. Those big, black ones that used to buzz around the house when my father had manured the garden with fresh cow pooh and the next door kids would tell us that our house smelled like a pig stall. It was a pretty gross experience, but it did remind me of a radio programme that I had listened to a few weeks ago. Some insect farmers had launched a few snacks that were made from insects: The bug nuggets and bug balls.

Not all insects are edible, and I’m sure the fat fly that I tried this morning is one of them. In a lot of other countries in the world, grasshoppers, ants and meal worms are concidered as delicacies though. And that is a good thing. Our flying or crawling friends are full of proteins and other healthy stuff and to breed them and get them ready for consumption is much, much more environmental friendly than getting a piece of cow, pig or chicken on our plate.

On the radio programme most of the people who tasted the snacks were pretty enthousiastic about them. A few excited vegetarians were thrilled to have found a good substitute for the gross tofu they had been chewing on for years.

So am I going to eat insects as well? I think I should, with all my blogging and preaching about the environment and all. To be honest, the thought of eating these creepy creatures doesn’t appeal to me at all! But I will give it a try, and if it doesn’t work an other one. I also thought that it might help if people in other Western countries would start eating them and turn it into a culinairy hit. And thinking about it, I concluded that the country to begin should be France.

The French are trend setters and really like organic stuff. They already made pretty nasty sounding food find their way to the menu cards of the world’s best restaurants, like snails, fois gras and frog butts. And last, but not least, as I discovered later in the day: You can get them here already!

Albeit in the pet shop!