- This is me biting into a salty, meaty scorpion.
(scorpion crunches) Ooh.
Whoa.
It's like a salty pepperoni.
And this is me eating ants.
That was amazing!
Hi, I'm Yara, and I appreciate
all kinds of food, (food crunches)
but I never thought I'd enjoy eating bugs.
That's like a coconut Rice Krispie.
You see, a lot of people think eating bugs is gross.
(contestants yells in disgust)
- Oh, man!
That can't be good!
- [Yara] But it's an idea
we might have to start getting used to.
- No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
- [Yara] Because we're headed for a global food crisis.
According to the UN, as the world's population
grows to over 9 billion by 2050,
we might have to turn to edible bugs
to get our daily dose of protein.
That's because bugs are more sustainable
than other kinds of protein,
and they're just as nutritious.
Some two billion people around the world
already eat bugs, and they do so happily.
- Mm.
- Like in China, (scorpion crunches)
Korea, (bugs crunch)
Mexico, (bugs crunch)
and India.
- [Gordon Ramsay] So the Chutney's made out of ants?
- And if you think about it,
we in the West eat some pretty weird stuff.
Rotten milk with fuzzy blue mold spores,
vicious-looking creatures
with beady eyes and large claws,
or pulverized animal flesh
encased in the intestine of another animal.
So if we can eat all of that,
why do some of us find bugs so gross?
(woman screams)
Is there a way to overcome that disgust?
These are actually really delicious.
And which bug tastes the best?
(upbeat music)
To find out, my team and I headed to New York City
to try tasting them for ourselves.
All three of us are in the frame.
We're here to meet Joseph Yoon,
(bell dings)
a chef who calls himself--
- An edible insect ambassador.
- [Yara] Joseph hosts food events around the country
to raise appreciation for edible insects.
- We're gonna put in some scorpions here.
Okay. (bug crunches)
Bug appetit, guys. (crowd cheering)
- [Yara] So we joined him for one of his pop-up dinners,
which started in a kitchen filled with bugs.
- Insects are a completely new frontier
for the western chef,
and so we have all these new ingredients to play with,
so it's like this new playground.
- What are you preparing right now?
- Some silkworm pupae.
- And these are the chapulines?
- [Joseph] Yes.
These are some black ants, here.
- I have sprayed Windex on too many of these guys.
- Put some Windex--
- Oh. - Oh, God, please.
- I didn't know I could eat them.
- Humans have been eating bugs forever.
Over two billion people (bug crunching)
on Earth eat edible insects. (bugs crunching)
I mean, it's like, what are we missing?
- [Yara] And then, our fancy 11 course dinner began.
- Ladies and gentlemen, (crowd cheering)
are you ready for
Yara's
insectual dinner party?
- [Yara] We tried a whole bunch of different insects.
- All right, everybody.
- Like the crickets.
This is the first time I'm eating, I think, a cricket.
(cricket crunches)
Oh, it's nice and crunchy.
I loved the crickets.
It's very nutty.
- A big sesame seed.
- Yeah, it's a big sesame seed.
Whether they were sprinkled on top of something.
It's almost like chips.
Or fried into a fritter. (bug crunching)
- You don't taste it at all.
There is a ton of crickets in here, though.
- Ooh, I'm feeling them.
Or ground into a flour to bread some fried chicken.
- How is it, Yara?
(bugs crunching) - Good. (laughing)
This tastes very similar to regular fried chicken.
Or baked into a gougere,
or gougere!
- Gougere's our French cheese puffs.
You know, something interesting with eating bugs,
you wanna chew it more than usual
because it has a front flavor,
a middle flavor, a finishing flavor,
much more so than the food
that you're used to eating.
- All right, I'm gonna taste this.
But hold on, ooh.
Hold on, wow.
Hold on.
Wow.
I've gotta tell you about ants.
That's amazing!
It's packed with flavor! - It's like a marvel.
- It's really tart.
- Black ants have a citric-y flavor
from the formic acid that they use
as a defense mechanism.
- And they have this poppity-pop-pop crunch.
They taste like sour pop rocks.
And you can sprinkle them on anything,
like this quail egg, (Yara slurping)
or wild poached shrimp.
- I consider black ants (food crunching)
kind of like the caviar
of the insect world.
- This is great.
- [Diner] I haven't even hesitated.
- Yeah, right?
You see it as food.
I think the media always paint bugs
as kind of like, "Ah," "Ooh."
- [Joe Rogan] You're gonna have to endure a sausage fest.
(contestants choking and gagging)
- Oh, God.
- And that sort of conditions how you see them.
- Maybe the younger generations are open to this,
because we grew up watching Lion King.
(Simba slurping)
Yeah, there's that one scene when he goes--
- Slimy, yet satisfying.
- And we were like, "Okay, well, if Simba can do it,
"maybe I can do it."
- I thought they were so appetizing,
because it looked so meaty. - Yeah.
- (lips smacking) Tastes like chicken.
- [Yara] Oh, and I've gotta tell you about the scorpion.
- I don't know why people love fire so much.
Aah.
If I may.
(scorpion crunches)
- Ooh, it's got a salty, meaty flavor to it.
- These are torched Manchurian scorpions
on a wonton crisp with a cucumber slice.
(scorpion crunching)
- It's like a dry, salty pepperoni.
- The thing that's really fascinating
is that each of these have a different flavor profile.
- [Yara] Like the earthy taste of seasoned grasshoppers.
- [Joseph] An homage to my Korean heritage,
grasshopper japchae.
- Yo, is anybody else getting sumac vibes from this?
But like the berry powder?
Right?
Or the sturdiness of the Mopane worms.
- [Diner] It's like jerky.
- Yeah, it has a smokiness to it.
Or the silkworm pupae's vague notes of
Corn Nuts. - Corn Nuts.
- Corn Nut-y kind of flavor. - Yeah.
(food crunching)
(hands smacking) - Thanks for coming, guys!
- I came into this experience being like,
"Oh, I might not like it."
I might have some sort of visceral reaction.
But I didn't.
It was just delicious food.
What is going on?
- So it's like really reeducating people
to rethink what the possibilities of insects are.
It's not just a pest,
it's not something that is gross,
but it can be something that's delicious.
By plating the insects into dishes,
by making them look like food,
I'm trying to get Americans, westerners,
to view this as a delicious food product.
- A lot of us though still squirm
at the idea of eating them.
But what's the psychology of that disgust?
And how can we overcome it?
I met up with Rachel Herz--
- Hey, Yara. (bell dings)
- Who's written a book about that very topic.
(bell dings)
What is it that makes something
disgusting to us, psychologically?
- All of our emotions are there to help us survive.
Fear, for example, helps us stay alive
by avoiding, you know, (tiger growling)
a tiger running at us, (woman screaming)
or the fire that's burning around us,
whereas disgust, specifically,
seems to be primarily evolved
to protect us from ingesting poisons.
It arose from our rejection
of bitter-tasting things,
which are toxic.
(head thumps)
And now, kind of evolved further,
and things that are unfamiliar
get sort of shunted into that category
of maybe better to avoid it.
Context makes a huge difference
when it comes to disgust.
Think of the saliva in your mouth right now.
Is it bothering you?
- No. (laughing)
- Imagine that I told you
to take a glass and spit into the glass.
- Would it be possible to get a glass?
- [Bartender] To spit in?
- Yeah. (laughing) - Excellent.
- (laughing) I'll wash it off.
I've never spat on camera before.
(Yara spits)
(laughing) I just spit into it.
- Now if I told you to drink that.
- No, that would be disgusting.
- And yet, literally-- - It's my own.
- A nanosecond ago,
it was in your mouth and you were totally fine
with it. - (laughing) Yeah.
- Okay, so that's the idea of context.
What specifically is disgusting to each of us
is very personal and culturally relative.
In Thailand, and other places in Asia,
and in some places in South America,
where bugs are actually a part of everyday cuisine,
it's completely normal and natural to eat them,
(bugs crunching)
but for most westerners,
we have no experience eating them,
we just have experience seeing them
creeping and crawling around
and swatting them off of us,
so to us, they're vermin,
they're yucky, they're icky,
so we do not want to have anything to do
with putting them in our mouth.
- What do you mean, bugs?
I hate bugs!
- Are there other foods, historically,
that have been seen as disgusting
that are not disgusting today?
- The greatest example is lobster.
- Oh, right.
So I forgot to mention, we're at Ed's Lobster Bar in Soho,
and that's Ed. (bell dings)
- [Yara] Oh, you've got a lobster on your arm!
- [Ed] Yeah, I've got the logo.
- We have no problem with eating lobster today.
- And not only do we not have a problem,
but it's a delicious, expensive delicacy.
But 250 years ago, it was actually something
that was considered entirely repulsive.
And it washed up on the shores of New England,
and people thought, "What are these gross, giant bugs?"
They actually gave them to slaves, to prisoners, to orphans,
to people that were not allowed to eat the good food.
And in fact, there was an uprising mandating
that it was cruel and unusual punishment
to serve lobster more than two or three times a week.
- And to think that today,
it's like the most expensive item on the menu.
(drum rolling)
- Oh, wow. - Yes.
- So this is the lobster roll.
It's knuckle, tail, and claw meat.
You have a straight steamed lobster
dropped in the water.
You have the lobster bisque,
and we whisk in cream into the lobster stock
for reduction.
And then, the ravioli has shallots,
mushrooms, and truffle salt.
Enjoy, great!
- It may have taken a few hundred years,
but today, a lot of folks find lobster delicious,
but how do we overcome our disgust of eating insects?
(bell dings)
- The first thing I would say to do would be
to try it in its most concealed, disguised form.
This is ravioli stuffed with lobster meat.
It doesn't necessarily look like this is lobster.
- [Yara] This lobster bisque doesn't look
anything like lobster.
- This could be tomato, even.
The transformation changes the context.
- [Yara] Right.
- It changes our perception,
and it makes it a lot easier.
So instead of using wheat flour,
I could make flour out of crickets.
(bell dings)
Making the language around it really enticing.
Now the problem comes in when I say, "That's cricket,"
or "grasshopper." - It's like a mental block
that that creates. - Exactly.
The best thing to do is change the word insect or bug
into something else.
- We don't say we're eating cow.
- Yes. - We say we're eating beef,
- Yeah. - or we're eating steak.
- One of the great ways of transforming insect food
would be to make up a new word.
- Maybe we should insert some French words in there,
because there's a lot of francophilia. (laughing)
- Criquet a la creme, you know--
- Oh, wow. (laughing)
- Eau de crickette.
(crickets chirping)
(bell dings)
Another major issue when it comes to food
is the social environment.
- So if you see people that you like
essentially eating something and having a good time,
that's going to change you perception
of that food? - Yes.
- I think I saw a video of Nicole Kidman eating cricket.
- Like a hairy nut.
- Just like with all kinds of other advertising,
where you have celebrities saying,
"I drive this car," "I wear these running shoes,"
if you have celebrities eating crickets,
and grasshoppers, and scorpions,
that's gonna make a huge impact.
- Back at the office, I thought I'd do my part
in evangelizing bug-eating.
This is bright, I'm gonna move here.
Hey, Taiko. - Hi.
- I have roasted crickets.
- Ew.
- Would you like to try one?
- No.
- Really?
- Do I have to?
- Hey, Hongda, Hey, Derek,
Whoa, Adam, Hey, Kayla.
Hey. - Oh my god.
(Yara laughing)
What's up, Yara?
- How's it going, Julia?
Would you like to try some roasted crickets?
Would you be interested in trying some edible insects?
- Um, you know what?
- [Yara] Yes, okay, so...
- I won't even eat raisins,
so I'm not gonna even try crickets.
(Yara laughing)
- Can I interest you-- - No.
- in some roasted crickets? - Not today, Satan.
- No. - No?
Would you like to try crickets?
- What is cricket?
- [Yara] It's like a small grasshopper.
- Oh, I thought it was a sport.
- [Narrator] Rowe, the wicket-keeper, is a Cornishman.
(both laughing)
- [Yara] It is also a sport.
- Wee!
Wee!
No, it's bug!
- [Yara] I know, it's a cricket.
- Oh!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
- You don't-- - No, no, no, no, no, no!
No! (laughing) (Yara laughing)
No, it looks like bug!
- We have Texas barbecue.
- I'm gonna have the sriracha.
- Sea salt and vinegar, let's do it.
(upbeat music)
(bugs crunching)
- [Yara] What does it taste like?
- They're like a better version of fries.
- It's crunch, it's earthy.
- I like it.
- It tastes like barbecue (laughing).
- [Yara] Could you imagine yourself eating these at home?
- I actually would.
- Yeah. - Really?
- Yeah.
- Sweet and salty, they go good with apples.
- If you saw it at a party,
would you grab some, put them on your small plate?
- Yeah.
I would want to look like I'm that girl
who will eat anything. (Yara laughing)
- These are actually really delicious.
Hello, Aisha.
- Does it look like cricket?
I'm not gonna look at it.
Okay.
(giggling)
(Yara laughing)
Oh my god, they look like crickets!
Yeah, so the crunch is like, it's got to the top,
oh my god, I ate an insect!
That is disgusting! (Yara laughing)
- It's really good.
- Right, it's tasty. - Yeah.
- [Yara] What does it taste like?
- Chips, like barbecue Doritos.
- [Yara] But did you know that, unlike Doritos,
they have six grams of protein
per serving? - Wow.
- Yeah. - Mm-hm.
- So it's very nutritious.
- Yep.
Crickets are super-high in protein.
Per weight, crickets have nearly 1.5 times
the amount of protein of beef,
and more than double the amount of protein of chicken.
And they have all nine essential amino acids
that our body can't produce on its own.
Not to mention, when it comes to greenhouse gasses,
crickets release 80% less methane than cows.
(cow farting)
It's true, crickets still have a long way to go
as a food source.
They're pretty expensive. (cash register ringing)
A pound of crickets, which is about 4,800 of them,
costs around $50 in the US,
while a pound of beef costs around $4.
But prices are bound to come down
the more we start eating them.
(bell dings)
- I'm really scared of insects
by the way. - All right, let's see.
(woman screams)
(Yara laughing)
You wasted food!
- I can't even hold them!
(speaks foreign language)
- [Yara] Okay, so not everyone was into them,
but what if they were disguised
like Rachel said?
- Try it in its most concealed, disguised form.
- Hey, Hongda.
Hey, Adam.
Remember how I gave you some crickets to try?
- I do, yes.
- [Yara] And you didn't eat them.
They were too gross for you. - No, I didn't.
- I was not into it.
- [Yara] Would you be willing to try
these cricket protein bars
that are made from cricket flour?
- Cricket flour? - Yes.
- Peanut butter or chocolate chip.
- Chocolate fudge brownie.
- Yeah, yeah, I will try.
(Adam sniffing)
(bar crunching)
- If you didn't tell me that it's cricket flour,
I would have no idea.
- It tastes normal.
- Three and a half out of five.
- Tastes good.
- Not bad.
- [Yara] You didn't eat the crickets on their own,
but in the form of a protein bar,
you're not grossed out by them?
- Yeah, I guess not.
- So can we overcome our disgust of bugs?
- To black ants, guys. - Yes.
- [Yara] It's definitely possible.
- This tastes like potato chips.
- It's not like, oh, eat bugs every day.
Why don't you just try adding it to your diet once a week?
Even if 10% of Americans were to start doing that,
that would have a huge impact on the sustainability
of our planet.
- So much of disgust is about context.
Many of us have only seen insects as pests
that invade our homes and carry diseases.
(intense music) (woman screaming)
But chefs like Joseph are changing that context
by putting bugs alongside foods we already love,
making them look more appetizing,
and creating social experiences around them.
They're teaching us that bugs can be--
- Lemony.
- Mushroom-y. - Meaty.
It's a process our society has gone through before
with foods like lobster.
It might take time, but maybe some day,
we'll all be able to pop a cricket in our mouths,
or bite into a juicy cockroach
without thinking twice.
(upbeat orchestral music)
Hey, guys.
Hope this video's changed the way
you think about eating insects.
Now, that's not to say you just pick up any old bug
off the ground and eat it.
Not all bugs are safe to eat,
and that's why we used the term edible insects
in this video.
That said, there is one bug that I'd really like to try,
and that's the witchetty grub,
kind of like the one Simba ate.
Apparently, it tastes like fatty tuna.