Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Farm 432

livinstudio.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 151 posts

Re: Farm 432

#81

Post by prawn »

Recoil42 wrote: post #57
warble wrote: post #3

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. This is a great i…

>For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. Generally, we eat the innards, not the exoskeleton.

I (and many others) eat school prawns shell/head/tail and all. It's common in Greece. Here's an example recipe:

http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/recipe-search/fea...

When a prawn tail has been shelled (but tail left on for presentation) and in tempura, I will eat the tail also.

Re: Farm 432

#82

Post by [deleted] »

xanderstrike wrote: post #61
fastball wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my possible ignorance, but shouldn't all water consumed in the process be recycled when the cows + humans urinate? Water doesn't just disappear.

True, but it doesn't immediately become potable. If you're in, say, California where water usage vastly outstrips rainfall, the amount of water you consume is very important. All the water beyond what you get naturally has to be run through expensive purification and transportation.

[deleted]

Re: Farm 432

#83

Post by jpatokal »

jimbokun wrote: post #66
Recoil42 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. Generally, we eat the innards, not the exoskeleton.

At a Japanese noodle place in NYC, my wife and I were served shrimp with our miso ramen, with the exoskeleton still in place (you were meant to peel and eat it yourself). My wife wanted no part of it, although she likes shrimp with the eyeballs and antenna and stuff already removed. Go figure.

If properly deep-fried, the entire shrimp is edible, head and all.

Re: Farm 432

#84

Post by jpatokal »

derefr wrote: post #78
headShrinker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobsters are closely related to Spiders... yet are considered a delicacy. I even think to my self as I eat lobster, "spider, spider, spider" yet I never get grossed out at eating it. On the other hand I can barely hold a spider much less eat one...

Lobsters are, once you get inside them, just chunks of very uniform "meat" that has very little trace of where it originated. If we could find two-pound spiders, boil them, and serve their cracked-open legs on a plate, people would probably be just fine with eating those.

Calling Phnom Penh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_spider

Re: Farm 432

#85

Post by aidos »

suvelx wrote: post #19

What about taste? While bugs are a great source of protein, we don't eat foods primarily based on nutrition, we eat food based on taste. I know Huhu or Witchetty grubs taste similar to peanut butter. And while peanut butter is nice and all, I want me some rich (but sustainable) beefy taste.

I ate termites from a nest in Honduras. They were actually pretty good, I thought that tasted a lot like peanut butter. Though, they're pretty small and non-offensive, as far as eating bugs goes.

Re: Farm 432

#86

Post by Blaaguuu »

lbotos wrote: post #45
warble wrote: post #3

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. This is a great i…

These guys are working on cricket bars as a protein source: https://www.exoprotein.com/ (No affiliation, they were a few desks over at a coworking space)

That is a great idea... I've never tried eating bugs, and while I'd like to think that I could get over the stigma and try it, I know that I would have no problem eating them after they have been ground up into a meal, and worked into something tasty.

That said, I was about to buy a box just to check them out, when I saw their crustacean allergy warning... I hadn't even thought of that, and I am most certainly allergic to all of the crustaceans that Americans normally eat, so I might well be allergic to other arthropods.

Re: Farm 432

#87

Post by eru »

xanderstrike wrote: post #61
fastball wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my possible ignorance, but shouldn't all water consumed in the process be recycled when the cows + humans urinate? Water doesn't just disappear.

True, but it doesn't immediately become potable. If you're in, say, California where water usage vastly outstrips rainfall, the amount of water you consume is very important. All the water beyond what you get naturally has to be run through expensive purification and transportation.

That's why you shouldn't eat Californian cows. Import them.

Re: Farm 432

#88

Post by Klinky »

alextgordon wrote: post #24
warble wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of what we eat (steaks, chicken nuggetts, hamburger, bacon) is dissasociated with the source form of the meat. This should probably be the inroad. If people get used to the idea that they're ingesting insects anyhow, then maybe the rest gets easier? I dunno..

What is the point of eating insects, though? Why not just eat lentils?

Lentils don't agree with a lot of people due to taste, texture and/or flatulence.

However, the people who don't eat lentils probably wouldn't touch ground insect meat either.

Re: Farm 432

#90

Post by gtremper »

jqm wrote: post #69

At an earlier point in our evolutionary history we no doubt ate plenty of insects. Grubs, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, termites... pretty much whatever we could get our hands on. This practice was generally discarded by humanity except for niche pockets here and there. Why? I mean... there must be a reason humans (for the most part) stopped eating insects.

Insects are eaten in most of the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy
Post reply on HN