Anyond tried black beatles?  

Especially as it didn't taste of anything vile this time, who would have known that.

Hi jb, he just needs to pay more attention to what goes into his mouth. All these things aren't going to be much good for him in the wilderness as he doesn't actually eat them.

Hi Zeph, I've no idea where these little black ones come from, but they are gettig everywhere. It's quite common to cut open a pomegranate and find it infested with ants but I don't expect my son to eat it, I toss it away.

Hi Sharus, I agree with you that it is just a cultural mind block and have often considered cooking up grasshoppers as they used to eat them in Tudor days as a delicacy, or was that locusts? Never thought about doing them in honey, but there's hundreds outside and they are cheaper than chicken.

Personally as long as the red ants were dead I'd be more inclined to try them than glutinous rice, foul stuff. Don't think I could resort to either grubs or larvae though, maybe they need to be served on a very dark night with only a small candle flickering. When one sees these things being eaten on TV though they are still invariably alive and you never know where a grub has been before you eat it.

Wow I would be upset if people tricked me into eating that stuff too. Of course that is the only way you could get me to eat things I that.

Sorry, but I forgot to mention a book I once read - it's called "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", written by Philip K. Di*k (it won't let me say the real name... the site is afraid the Devil would get their soul), and it depicts a world where animals (including insects, of course) are very rare and valued... Great book, I recommend it to all science-fiction readers.

Hi stvasile, you've certainly never mentioned these apricot trees before, I had a vision of you surviving on barely more than the dreaded herbs, bean soup, and that green porridge sludge. I didn't realise that ants could embedy themselves in body parts, maybe it's a defence mechanism to stop them being eaten. It's rather unnerving thinking of you wandering round with an ants head stuck into you and proving tricky to extract.

Hi Sandra, that suprised me a little as I thought they always gravitiated to red. So I have two solutions for you my dear. The first is to leave a small glass of red wine out nearby to attract the little black flies away from your cava (we get them too), or even a teaspoon of pungent jam in a saucer.

The second solution is to make a wine glass cover. Someone made me one a few years back as a little gift, it was a piece of gingham material rather like a jam pot cover but sewn so there was an overhang over the side of the glass. She weighed this down with coloured beads sewn on the ends. It was extremely useful as they just won go away and it's such a nuisance to keep picking them out. I do trust this little piece of advice helps solve the problem. Kind regards Cava agony aunt.

Thea rides to the rescue! The glass of red wine is a no-no, as any unattended glass of red wine soon gets hoovered up around here. Funny you should mention a cover, though, because according to some sources, that's how tapas originated in Madrid. Somebody asked for something to 'tapar' his wine glass and keep the flies out. 'Tapar' means to cover in Spanish, and the bartender covered the glass with a slice of serrano ham. Nobody seems to know if it's true or just an urban myth, but it makes a great story. Now I'm off to fetch gingham material and beads.

The tapas one is true Sandra, I have the most huge and fantastic Spanish cook book which doesn't have much cooking in it but a whole history of Spanish cusine. But rather than the ham it was a small saucer, maybe the saucer had a piece of ham on it. I'll check when I'm feeling strong enough to lift the b ook off the shelf. I'll note the name for you too as it is the most beautiful book, but very heavy.

Hi fjaril, well hearing from you was just what I needed too. My son is just fine and I'm sure if he did actually consume a few bugs and beetles they wouldn't do any harm. He's the one who suggested this discussion anyway and hopefully later will feast bug free on my offerings for dinner.

How can you not love shellfish, I adore it, I like anyfood which involves a bit of getting at, in the style of prawns. I did used to be wary of mussels but we don't have them here, in fact we have very little shell fish at all considering we're next to the sea. Apart from the frequent lobsters of course.

aah Thea.. good to see you again! Prepare me no bugs nor shell fish of any kind though.. I am soo allergic to shellfish, it is totally dropdead serious! No matter how nice it taste, I don't go with that phrase.. 'to die for'.. nono!

BEst behave then or else I'll be hiding lobster bits amidst the gloop.

Hi Hatley, that to me sounds like an eminently practical thing to do with grasshoppers and I have thought of trying it myself as they were a delciacy back in the days of Henry VIII, mind you saying that they drank mead for breakfast and only bathed once a year so may not have actually known what a delicacy was.

Hi BlueGoblin, well the beetle didn't come out of the pomegranate it just kind of fell into it, one can't presume that that may ever happen again. I was just suprised to learn they didn't have any kind of taste at all.

Hi Aunty, i don't actually feed him these things you know, he just seems to attract them. I did give him a good meal afterwards and there wasn't a single bug in it, does roast pork with roast potaotes and veggies pass as soul food, certainly winter food cooking?

i KNOW U DON'T THEA, i WAS JUST TEaSING W/U WHICH IS HARD TO DO. yes, I would think that would meet the soul food requirementa.

You can tease Aunty but sometimes my humour can be a bit warped. I had no idea that the traditional English roast meal could be considered soul food though, I thought that was guambo? and ribs and chiiltings?

I know that's right, lol. Soul food can be whatever i'm fixing i guess from son's opinion anyway. I don't make gumbo even tho i do like ot & i never cooked chitterlings in my life. soul food to him was just good ol' southern cooking.

Oh its chitterlings, I read somewhere what they were but can't recall but thought they sounded a bit nasty. My crackling didn't take at all last night but he loved the piece of large pork fat which accompanied his school lunch today masquerading as such. Boys are strange.

bOYS will be boys, lol. There are times i still don't understand mine & they are grown.