MSU NEWS SERVICE
BOZEMAN
– While 80 percent of the world eats bugs on a regular basis without batting an
eye, the U.S. has always kept at arm’s length the practice of consuming insects.
At Montana State University, they’re trying to change that, one bug buffet at a
time.
MSU’s
32nd annual Bug Buffet, hosted by the Department of Plant Sciences
and Plant Pathology and the Department of Health and Human Development, is a
celebration of the nutritional and environmental benefits of edible insects.
The event is part of a weeklong celebration of edible insects as a sustainable
food source.
According
to James and Kathy Rolin, owners of the Bozeman-based cricket farm Cowboy
Crickets, these insects aren’t only a solid source of protein, they’re also
much more ethical to farm.
The
Bug Buffet will feature samples of Cricket Acorn Bread, Chapulines
(grasshopper) Sunchoke Chips With Crème Fraiche; Tenebrio (mealworm) Quesadilla
with Chapulines Salsa; Orthoptera Three Sisters Soup; Smokey Jumper Watermelon-Jicama
salad; Tenebrio Montana Lentil Succotash; Bombyx (pupae) Wild Rice With Juniper
Berries and Spruce; Iced Mexican Chocolate Brownies With Cricket; and Black Ant
Chokecherry Smoothies.
All
meals are prepared by chefs Jill Flores and KayAnn Miller, along with Food Safety
Supervisor Dustin Schreiner and this year’s guest chef Joseph Yoon, executive
director of Brooklyn Bugs and a chef in New York City.
The
buffet is bookended by a series of other insect-related events, including a
cook-off, sustainable food workshops, field trips to Cowboy Cricket Farms and
the Bozeman Fish Technology Center, as well as several short films following
the topic of sustainable and ethical food production.
The
Bug Buffet takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 12-4 p.m. in “Ballroom A” of
the Strand Union Building. The event is free and open to the public and those
curious about the future of insect agriculture, integrating more sustainable
practices into their lives, or simply have a desire to see how professionally
prepared bugs taste, are encouraged to attend.
