WATCH: Lower Mainland foodies are known for their adventurous palates. But just how appetizing can it be when insects are the main course? Nadia Stewart finds out.
“No one goes away hungry after one of my demonstrations.”
Bug chef David George Gordon knows there is a negative connotation in his joke. But ahead of a cooking demonstration in Vancouver today, he says North Americans should consider the type of insect-inspired cuisine he specializes in before completely dismissing it.
“There are lots of reasons to eat bugs,” he says. “Eighty per cent of the world’s cultures do eat bugs, we’re the weirdos in the 20 per cent who don’t. The real question is why don’t we eat bugs?”
Many insects – including grasshoppers, crickets and locusts – are easy to obtain in large numbers. Several are high in protein, calcium and iron.
“It takes about 16 pounds of grain to get one pound of steak,” says Gordon, who has brought over plenty of spiders, scorpions and tarantulas for his demonstration at Hawker’s Market. “It’s about two pounds of grain for insects.”
Gordon says there are regulatory challenges in Canada and the United States for approving insects for mass consumption. However, the larger issue remains self-evident: most people raised here just aren’t used to the idea of eating bugs.
READ MORE: Chocolate bugs served up at insect museum in New Orleans
“Our culture is pretty much a bug-bashing society. We like to think bugs are germy and gross and disgusting. Well, they’re not,” he says.
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