Remember drinking “bug juice” at summer camp? We knew it wasn’t literally bug juice, right? Well Angenlina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s brood actually do eat bugs, but they’re crunchy not juicy.
While shooting her Louis Vuitton ad in Cambodia, Angelina revealed that she and her kids love to eat insects, specifically crickets. “It’s their favorite thing, ” Jolie said. “They ate them like Doritos and they wouldn’t stop. But they’re good. They are like a potato chip.”
Actually, Angelina prefers cockroaches to crickets, she told New York Magazine, but “There’s this very pointy bit on their stomach you just can’t eat. You have to kind of pop that off.”
People who eat insects actually have a name — they’re called Entomophagists. It is actually quite common in cultures around the world, such as North, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
Angie’s infamously strange eating habits may be good for her kids. Insects are lower in fat, higher in protein, and have a better feed to meat ratio than beef, lamb, pork, or chicken.
3.5 ounces of crickets contains 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin. That’s a bargain compared to ground beef, which, although it contains more protein (23.5 g.), also has 288.2 calories and a whopping 21.2 grams of fat!
With our epidemic of childhood obesity in the U.S., maybe swapping bugs for burgers isn’t such a bad idea. Then again, I don’t see McDonald’s offering them in their Happy Meals anytime soon, except maybe in Thailand or Cambodia.
What are your thoughts? Would you eat insects? Would you let your children do it?
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This is the first article by our new contributing editor, Petra Herzog.
Ms. Herzog is a former producer and assignment editor for ABC affiliate WLOS News 13 in Asheville, North Carolina and currently works in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.
We’re thrilled to have Petra on our team. Stay tuned for new and exciting stories under her byline in the days and weeks to come.
Such an interesting and entertaining article! Especially the bit about happy meals. I hadn’t any idea the healthy nutritional aspects of bugs. Still not sure I’d eat one, it does offer a lot to think about.
Perhaps as just a snack?
I would definitely let me kids eat bugs! I see absolutely no problem with it as long as the bugs have not been around pesticides (this last bit is pretty important!)
Any bugs (assuming they are pesticide-free) you wouldn’t try. For example, Angelina can’t get over the furriness of tarantulas.
i have to be careful with bugs. I have arthropod/shellfish allergies. But i have eaten some and they’re very delicious.
Apparently you are not alone. Others have had insect food allergies. In fact, there is a website, The Food Insect Network, that has an article about just this: http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/allergies.htm
Thanks for the comment!
one thing that i recommend to people (especially celiac and other gluten-free people) is mealworm flour. EVERYBODY in my house eats mealworm
I bake the flour into bread so i get a protein punch but with no gluten. And my hedgehog eats them live or freeze dried. And the cats sometimes get one or two as a treat though they’re not especially big on them. Mealworm flour is REALLY good for you and the mealworms are cultivated to be safe for human and animal consumption.
Thanks for the comment. You are correct that mealworms are a good source of protein. I’ve found a recipe for Mealworm Chocolate Chip cookies for you. Try it out and let me know how they come out: http://www.ehow.com/how_2248778_make-mealworm-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
What’s interesting is that mealworms are fed wheat bran. So, while it’s not directly eating gluten, it’s surely in the makeup of them and even on the outside of them because that is what they sleep in. If you are sensitive to gluten, it’s probably not such a great idea unfortunately. Unless, that is, you can find ones fed/bedded in something different. (Which is what I’m looking for as I’m raising chicks)
Dr. M – tarantulas are not bugs
Blessings…
Sorry, I make no claims in being an entomologist. Besides, it was Angelina who drew the line at tarantulas!
Truthful. Very good article.
Thanks for your comment. I hope you keep coming back for more.
Very interesting….I am not surprised that bugs have more nutritional value than processed and manufactured foods…..but I would think that bugs would have less calories!!!!
1. Do they digest better as well?
2. Is social acceptance and American customs the only thing preventing bugs from being publicly eaten?
They are eaten pretty much everywhere except north america and western europe (the fattest nation clusters on earth) I don’t understand how people can eat a lobster but turn their nose up at scorpion (they’re the same damn animal!)
They’re good for you. Our genes are those of insect eaters. I’ve traveled quite extensively and have eaten termites, grasshoppers, crickets and a sort of beetle that i now forget the name. I tried scorpion but had a terrible allergic reaction to it (i’m allergic to lobster and shrimp and it’s the same basic animal so i should have been a little less stupid and avoided it)
Most insects taste like nuts. They’re good.
According to the Food Insect Newsletter:
Thanks for your input.
appearance is everything. if the meal looks like bugs then i doubt many americans would go for that, however, if it looked like a hamburger paddy then it’d be more marketable here. the FDA allows certain amounts of rat hair and insects already so a whole hamburger isn’t that far off.
That’s an appetizing thought…
Cockroaches, honestly? I thought they were nasty. I think anything this woman AJ can do to promote more attention to herself, she will do. But, that’s what celebrities do.