Parasites

I'm supposed to camp with a friend of mine from south Louisiana this weekend. He says he is gwine-a teach me how to eat dem insects. His theory is that they are very plentiful, and that they require a minimum of energy expenditure to catch. he says "You would be amazed at the food available in a rotting log - look at dem bears, dey eaten grubs". Now from my limited reading on the matter, most insects and such are OK to eat, except for the parasites, etc. that they might be hosting. So the question becomes: if one cooks-em, can he eat with gusto, without worry about ill effects? What can't you eat in the way of grubs and insects? Now if my buddy is popping these little fellows in raw, do I do likewise, or be a woosy and say naw I got a cook-em first?

In a prolonged low light long-term survival situations, grubs, fungus et al, might be a food solution. photosynthesis will be zip, but you will have a plenty of decaying plant matter.

H. Carter Mesick
hmesick@goldinc.com

Malaria in mosquitoes. Bubonic plague in fleas. Lyme disease in ticks. I have also had the experience of crushing a cricket and finding it full of tapeworms (there's a stimulus for your gorge!).

Wes Gietz