Which insects would you survive on?

During periods of food scarcity, insects come in handy as an alternative source of nutrition especially if one gets lost in the wild. I come from the tropics and there is a wide array of insects which can be eaten raw. These include white ants, crickets and various worms. What insects would one survive on in your area?

 

Probably worms, there are loads of them here, and ants too although I think I'd opt for the worms.

 

I've eaten crickets and worms before. It's not a problem. The only issue is that it taste a whole lot better if it is cooked and seasoned right. Earth worms will taste like dirt. They best way I know how to eat earth worms is to purge them by leaving them in water and constantly change the water. Eventually, the taste while eating them will be somewhat tolerable.

 

Cockroaches can survive a nuclear fallout, and I have seen one man in Ripley's that have been on a steady diet of roaches for over 2 years at that point, eating nothing else, and has claimed that all the nutrients and protein he needed to survive would be on the roaches. So yeah, as gross as that sounds, desperate times call for desperate measures, and when the time comes where it's do or die, you would probably much on these tiny critters too, just to survive another day.

 

I've heard crickets are very tasty and nutritious. I've never tried them, but in a life or death situation i would surely eat them to survive. May not taste the best, but everything counts.

 

Grasshoppers and locusts can be a good food source but catching them won't be easy.

I've heard that in Cambodia they do eat tarantulas. So if you can find any tarantula's they could keep your belly well-filled.

If you can get hold of termites, they can make a tasty meal. In parts of Indonesia they regularly eat termites.

 

I am terrified of insects in bugs. As of now, I would say I would probably rather die than eat insects. But, if it came to that situation and I was starving, I might change my mind.

 

My boyfriend is from China. He told me that the sell tarantulas and centipedes and other bugs on the street. They vend them. They have a container with living ones, you pick which one you want, they put in on a stick and deep fry it.

 

I think if you are in a survival situation you won't be picky. Even then you have to be careful because there are some insects that are poisonous. I think our look on bugs is a cultural one, after all nearly everyone has eaten bugs. It's funny that if the bug comes from the sea, (lobster, crab and shrimp) it's ok but as soon as it's terrestrial people get all squamish when it comes to eating them.

 

May I have a pass on this food festival? Last March, we were in Bangkok with my nephew and nieces. My husband challenged them to sample the cooked insects being sold by the street vendor. The children chose an assortment of cricket, beetle, scorpion, small snails - that's what I saw but did not confirm it from the vendor. Upon tasting, I saw their contorted faces mainly with the thought of eating insects. But after swallowing, the 3 kids admitted that the insects tasted good enough. I did not have the guts to taste it and the rest of the insects landed in the garbage can.

My husband said that the best insect is the fried beetle because it tastes quite milky. However, he cautioned me because when cooked, the beetle has a semblance of cockroaches and a cockroach is a yucky thing to me. Honestly, I sometimes say that I could eat anything for survival, maybe, but as of this moment I have to admit that it is far fetched to me. Sorry about that.

 

I have tried them fried, they aren't half bad! And that was entirely of my own choice to enter a competition in the affluent suburbs shopping center. So I could definitely handle that if it came down to the wire.
As for other insects, I'll have to do some reading as I'm entirely unsure of what else there is in my area that could feasibly and safely be consumed. I'd be down for eating bugs though, if need be.