Eating bugs to survive?

kramer5150 · Oct 12, 2010

Curious... have you ever had to eat bugs and grubs to survive? I know some of you are hard core outdoorsmen/women.

What was it you ate and how did it taste? raw or cooked?

I'll always stash some energy bars at the bottom of my pack when I go camping or out on a day hike. Just throw them in there in a sub-compartment + zip lock and I forget they are there.

TwinBlade · Oct 13, 2010

I have eaten locust/grasshoppers minus the legs and wings before. I hav also eaten ants and termites raw. I wouldn't eat a worm unless moderately cooked, no matter what they say that is it all good raw.

Crayfish over a fire, while not part of this, are plentiful and REALLY freaking tasty.:candle:

jzmtl · Oct 13, 2010

TwinBlade said:
I have eaten locust/grasshoppers minus the legs and wings before. I hav also eaten ants and termites raw. I wouldn't eat a worm unless moderately cooked, no matter what they say that is it all good raw.

Crayfish over a fire, while not part of this, are plentiful and REALLY freaking tasty.:candle:

Oh come on, all the survival experts eat them raw, even the fat bigger than thumb ones. :laughing:

TwinBlade · Oct 13, 2010

jzmtl said:
Oh come on, all the survival experts eat them raw, even the fat bigger than thumb ones. :laughing:

Yup! And they also sleep in a motel at night when the cameras are off. :crackup:

Let me say that unless I have to, or unless I am PAID to, anything that wiggles that much, will not trickle down my throat unless it is at least dead and slightly cooked.:nana:

LuxLuthor · Oct 13, 2010

I would rather die.

alpg88 · Oct 13, 2010

as a kid i ate many things that are not normally eaten.
grasshoppers are ok, i ate those, didn't try any other bugs, but most are edible, just don't try roaches and water bugs.
i ate live shrimps, small ones, as a kid we used to catch them in black sea, and ate them right on the spot, minus the head.
we also caught snakes cooked and ate them, from their skin we made belts.
we did it not to survive, but cuz we could, and it was fun.

nick-nack · Oct 13, 2010

I think in a survival situation, if I was to force myself to eat a bug. My gag reflex would kick in and I would probably puke everything I did have left in me.

HarryN · Oct 13, 2010

You might find it interesting that in Haiti, people were eating "cooked mud cakes". While the nutrition is obviously limited, they claimed that at least it helped to fill the stomach with something so they could continue on.

Several Vietnam vets told me that they "ate mud" to keep going. They routinely would trade off carrying more ammo instead of food to manage the pack weight.

A lot of cultures routine eat bugs, esp. cooked ones. You would be surprised what you will eat when you are hungry.

tygger · Oct 13, 2010

While I've not tried eating them, bugs are an amazing food source. Best bang for your buck source of protein, period. So yeah, if hunger and nutrition were an issue, I would have no problems cooking and eating (the right kind of) bugs. Grubs, junebugs, ants, etc.

Monocrom · Oct 13, 2010

Pull off the head and legs if crunching bugs raw. If you can cook something, do it. But yeah, if you're lost for only a little while; just don't eat or snack on whatever you brought in your pack.

ANDREAS FERRARI · Oct 14, 2010

I wonder how many people would eat this bug if they were starving.......

skyfire · Oct 14, 2010

HarryN said:
You might find it interesting that in Haiti, people were eating "cooked mud cakes". While the nutrition is obviously limited, they claimed that at least it helped to fill the stomach with something so they could continue on.

Several Vietnam vets told me that they "ate mud" to keep going. They routinely would trade off carrying more ammo instead of food to manage the pack weight.

A lot of cultures routine eat bugs, esp. cooked ones. You would be surprised what you will eat when you are hungry.

mud??? dont think i would even consider that. wouldnt that do more damage? but i cant judge, Ive never been in that kind of famine.

Ive been fortunate to never having to resort to eating bugs or worms to survive. although i have eaten stir-fied scorpians, and beetles while in thailand. not bad actually. (I love trying out the street foods of asia).
but if it was a matter of survival, eating bugs or worms would be safer than eating some unknown plants, or berries.

z17813 · Oct 14, 2010

I went on a school camp (many eons ago) and the aboriginal guy that was showing us old cave paintings (I think like I said it was a while ago), asked if anyone wanted to try a witchetty grub, one of my friends gave me a shove in the back and next thing you know I had to try it.
Tell you what starving to death seemed a pretty reasonable alternative but I guess if you were hungry enough... :shrug:

DoctaDink · Oct 15, 2010

TwinBlade said:
...Crayfish over a fire, while not part of this, are plentiful and REALLY freaking tasty.:candle:

Yeah. We pay over $2.50 per pound, boiled. And most people here eat over 5 lbs. at a sitting.

Patriot · Oct 16, 2010

Fortunately I've never eaten any to survive but have eaten a few worms which were terrible and headless, roasted desert grasshoppers, which were not nearly as bad as expected. I'm sort of discussed by most bugs so it was personal challenge to myself during a bush-craft outing just to see if I could hack it. That stated, I've also volunteered to be pepper sprayed, Tasered, and I've jumped out of perfectly good airplanes, so maybe I should shut up before I disclose just how unintelligent I really am...haha!

Monocrom · Oct 16, 2010

Patriot said:
. . . I've also volunteered to be pepper sprayed, Tasered . . .

That's alright. We still like you.

Sometimes your favorite light, isn't the brightest one in the collection. :grin2:

Patriot · Oct 16, 2010

Monocrom said:
That's alright. We still like you.

Sometimes your favorite light, isn't the brightest one in the collection.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :crackup:

:thumbsup:

DM51 · Oct 16, 2010

TwinBlade said:
Crayfish over a fire, while not part of this, are plentiful

There is a school of thought that says crayfish, shrimp, lobsters etc are in fact insects, the principal difference being that they evolved to be waterproof (IPX8, LOL) and are nicer to eat.

I hope I never come across a scorpion the size of a lobster. :sick2: :crackup:

jellydonut · Oct 16, 2010

Patriot said:
Fortunately I've never eaten any to survive but have eaten a few worms which were terrible and headless, roasted desert grasshoppers, which were not nearly as bad as expected. I'm sort of discussed by most bugs so it was personal challenge to myself during a bush-craft outing just to see if I could hack it. That stated, I've also volunteered to be pepper sprayed, Tasered, and I've jumped out of perfectly good airplanes, so maybe I should shut up before I disclose just how unintelligent I really am...haha!

I got gassed with CS in boot camp, can I be your water boy? :crazy:

This whole thread reminds me of http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/survival-tips-from-bear-grylls

Monocrom · Oct 16, 2010

DM51 said:
There is a school of thought that says crayfish, shrimp, lobsters etc are in fact insects, the principal difference being that they evolved to be waterproof (IPX8, LOL) and are nicer to eat.

I hope I never come across a scorpion the size of a lobster. :sick2:

Ironically, lobsters were first eaten by the poorest of folks who couldn't afford "better" food. Then some nobleman tried it, and the rest is history.

Eating bugs to survive?

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