Students Test Insect Recipes the Hard Way

A fly in the soup might mean a higher grade in Prof. Frank French’s class.

For a biology project at Georgia Southern University, French’s students concocted recipes using termites, crickets and other bugs. Some used wild plants, but French awarded extra points for insects.

The toughest part of this semester’s assignment: The students had to eat their creations, including creamy termite dip and crunchy cricket clusters.

“I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” said Gretchen Van Duyke, whose back-to-nature pizza was topped with termites and crickets.

The assignment helps students understand food sources around them. “They learn that a lot of wild plants and arthropods are, in fact, edible,” French said.

Many insects are good sources of protein and fats, French said. “A pound of termites has more nutrients than a pound of beef or pork.”

Thomas Maloy made crunchy cricket clusters by coating roasted crickets, cereal and peanuts with white chocolate. Rob Uribe created creamy termite dip from termites, garlic butter, pink salmon and cream cheese.

French has eaten termites and crickets--without cheese, chocolate or salmon.

Termites have a sweet, nutty flavor, “probably due to the natural fat in them, plus the wood contents they’ve been eating,” he said. Roasted crickets “taste like a fat-laden hors d’oeuvres,” but it’s best to remove the legs and heads first.

“The legs aren’t very palatable, and the heads are quite objectionable,” French said.