Daniella Martin champions bug-eating in "Edible: An Adventure into the World of Eating Insects and the Last Great Hope to Save the Planet," an engaging though sometimes over-the-top
volume.
Having spent the past 10 years studying insects, the entomophagist concludes that
"we should all be eating bugs - as our ancestors did, as our global
neighbors do, as our primate cousins do, and as we ourselves do constantly, by
accident, without realizing it."
She considers them viable alternatives to beef and
pork, for example. Their environmental impact is comparatively small, requiring
"little to no deboning, gutting, plucking, or butchering." Crickets,
grasshoppers, ants and certain caterpillars also contain large amounts of
calcium.
With that said, however, Martin might still have difficulty convincing
readers to actually eat these tiny critters.
For those willing to entertain the
idea of a bug banquet, she concludes with a handful of earnest recipes for items
such as Salty-Sweet Wax Worms, Crickety Kale Salad and Sweet-n-Spicy Summer June Bugs. But many may still squirm at the idea of slugs. She never fully sells them on the taste or visual factor.
(A version of this review appeared originally at Publishers Weekly.)
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