Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction: If It Bugs You, Eat It!

U.N. Urges Eating Insects: 8 Popular Bugs to Try From beetles to stinkbugs, people in dozens of countries eat insects.

Jennifer Holland
for National Geographic
Published May 14, 2013

Ants are sweet, nutty little insects, aren't they?

I'm not talking about their personalities, but how they taste. Stinkbugs have an apple flavor, and red agave worms are spicy. A bite of tree worm apparently brings pork rinds to mind.

This information will come in handy for those of us following the latest recommendation from the United Nations: Consume more insects.

A report released Monday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reminds us that there are more than 1,900 edible insect species on Earth, hundreds of which are already part of the diet in many countries.

In fact, some two billion people eat a wide variety of insects regularly, both cooked and raw; only in Western countries does the practice retain an "ick" factor among the masses.

Why eat something that we usually swat away or battle with insecticides? For starters, many insects are packed with protein, fiber, good fats, and vital minerals—as much or more than many other food sources.

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