2037 Bug Beer

Not long ago I wrote a commentary about eating bugs. The United Nations committee on something or another had come out with a recommendation that resources be applied to develop a robust bug eating industry. Raise 'em, harvest 'em, and gobble them down.

Not as creepy as it sounds. Or creepy-crawly. There are already plenty of countries where bug eating is normal. It's mostly in the West that we turn our proboscis up at a fine bug casserole.

We shouldn't. I've had deep-fried crickets before, and with all the spices and the frying, they tasted not unlike an extra crunchy version of Cheetos. A bug version could be called Beetos.

Yeah yeah yeah.

And really, anyone who has ever consumed shrimp or lobster is just eating the aquatic version of grasshoppers or cockroaches. "Crickets of the Sea" I call them. If you've ever ordered a whole shrimp at an ethnic restaurant you know what I mean. They have antennae and bug faces and hard bug legs. They certainly couldn't pass for pulled pork.

As I suggested in the commentary, just rendering bugs into protein bits to use in sausage would be a natural. You could add any flavor you like and it wouldn't bug anyone.

So imagine my surprise when I read an article recently that confirmed this is already inadvertently taking place. Scientific American reports that the average American eats almost two pounds of dead insects or insect parts a year, in foods like pasta, spinach, broccoli, cereal, and rice.

And beer.

Yep, not just a fly in your milk. A bug in your beer. Sort of. In the FDA's limits for insects in your food is this allowable allotment: 2500 aphids for each 10 grams of hops.

I’m guessing they just hop in.

America, ya gotta love it.