• Complain

Stefan Gates - Insects: An Edible Field Guide

Here you can read online Stefan Gates - Insects: An Edible Field Guide full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2017, publisher: Ebury Press, genre: Science. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover
  • Book:
    Insects: An Edible Field Guide
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Ebury Press
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2017
  • Rating:
    4 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 80
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Insects: An Edible Field Guide: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Insects: An Edible Field Guide" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Ever been tempted by the thought of trying juicy deep fried mealworms, proteinrich cricket flower, or swapping your Walkers for salt and vinegar flavoured grasshoppers? If so then you are not alone! Over 2 billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diet, and the world is home to around 1,900 edible insect species.
For adventurous foodies and daring dieters comes the newest way to save the planet, eat more protein, and tickle taste buds. But this isnt an insect cookbook. Instead its an informative field guide: exploring the origins of insect eating, offering tips on finding edible bugs and serving up a few delicious ideas of how to eat them once youve tracked them down!
It includes a comprehensive list on edible insects and where to find them, how to prepare them, their versatile usage and nutritional value as well as a few recipes. A bug-eating checklist covering all known edible bugs so readers can mark off the ones theyve eaten and seek out new delicacies concludes the book.
This is a perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful, and adventurous side of entomophagy.

Stefan Gates: author's other books


Who wrote Insects: An Edible Field Guide? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Insects: An Edible Field Guide — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Insects: An Edible Field Guide" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make
Insects An Edible Field Guide - image 1
CONTENTS Insects An Edible Field Guide - image 2
Acknowledgements Happy though I am to take all the credit for this book I - photo 3
Acknowledgements

Happy though I am to take all the credit for this book, I must grudgingly admit to the tiniest bit of help from dozens of brilliant entomologists, anthropologists, climate-change scientists, naturalists, statisticians, cooks and food writers whose work, both current and historical, I consulted, tickled and plundered. Special mention must go the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation for its publications and sheer enthusiasm, and also to the late Gene DeFoliart (whose extraordinary online bibliography is something of a gateway drug into entomophagy).

Particularly sumptuous acknowledgements are due to several people: the wonderful Hugh Woodward, whose efforts are reflected not just in the depth of information herein, but in some very fine turns of phrase, and for keeping me sane when I should, by rights, have gone stark raving locust. My entomologist friend Sally-Ann Spence kept the book in check and on track, and let me fiddle with Darwins specimens at the Pitt-Rivers in Oxford. A huge thank-you to the fantastic Jessica Barnfield for suggesting this book and for editing it so well despite being a vegetarian. And a big thank you to Candela Riveros for her wonderful illustrations.

Many people are to blame for leading me on the path to entomophagic enlightenment, especially Daisy and Poppy (for the day they licked their fingers, dipped them into a jar of bug eggs and pronounced them delicious), Georgia Glynn Smith (who, lets be honest, struggles to love insects), Kari Lia, Nik Porter, Nipaporn Jam Potong, Mark Collins, Will Daws, Karen OConnor, Richard Klein, Clare Paterson, Cassian Harrison, Janice Hadlow, Jan Croxson, Borra Garson, the crazy tarantula boys of Cambodia, Brodie Thompson and Eliza Hazlewood.

Thanks to my beloved BBC and the great British public for funding them for sharing so many of my fascinations and obsessions.

And finally, thanks to all the ants, bugs, locusts, grubs, worms, spiders, gastropods and myriapods Ive met on the way to writing this book. Sorry for eating you. But lets face it, if I didnt, something else would.

UK AND NORTHERN EUROPE

You might think that the entomophagy-minded foodie would find slim pickings in northern Europe. After all, the region is colder than most, whereas insects thrive in warm climates. This can make insect-foraging a calorie-neutral or even calorie-negative endeavour, (whereby more energy is spent collecting your dinner than you gain from eating it). Much like munching on celery. And, yes, in terms of sheer number of species Europe ranks last in the league table of edible insects, with only 2% of the worlds commonly eaten species.

But there are two counter-arguments to offer sceptics.

1. Insects are tenacious little critters and are found everywhere, especially in summer, as long as you know where to look and what to look for (and you have this book to hand). Its usually possible to walk into any garden that isnt under a blanket of snow and find a mouthful of protein.

2. The future of the world. Europe has always been at the forefront of global culinary endeavour, largely due to the work of the Dutch, who have been extracting food from an unpromising patch of mud since at least the Reformation. And with some degree of inevitability, they have thrown their weight behind entomophagy as an important solution to the worlds food problems.

The Dutch are farming organic mealworms and crickets for human consumption, and the good folk at Wageningen University produce some brilliant entomophagy research. Big ideas that change global nutrition often sound a bit odd and distasteful at first. That doesnt mean we shouldnt try to change the world by changing what we eat.

THE MOST SURPRISING INSECT-BASED DISHES

Some of the most exciting developments in entomophagy have come from the most surprising places. Despite a climate that doesnt naturally lend itself to cold-blooded animals, northern Europe has developed a pleasing proportion of the worlds oddest insect dishes. Check off the ones youve tried.

1. Bee mayonnaise , Denmark.

2. Cockchafer soup , France.

3. Fly burgers , Malawi/Tanzania.

4. Mealworm ice cream , San Francisco, USA.

5. Christmas minced flies , London, UK.

(Admittedly, that last entry was one of your authors.)

MEADOW GRASSHOPPER
Chorthippus parallelus The meadow grasshopper is known for its call it - photo 4
Chorthippus parallelus

The meadow grasshopper is known for its call; it attracts attention by rubbing its legs together and adding a scratchy noise to the general cacophony of a field on a summers evening. The grasshopper is particularly good at hopping because its strong back legs act as tiny catapults it bends its legs at the knee so that a spring-like mechanism stores up energy, then, when the grasshopper is ready to jump, it relaxes the leg muscles, allowing the spring to release and flinging it stylishly into the air. Despite this, they are very easy to catch when out in the open or on short grass, but in the middle of fields they invariably disappear into the vegetation, never to be seen again.

Taste: When freshly cooked they are crunchy and nutty with a strong umami hit.

Country: Found throughout the UK and much of Europe.

Habitat: In the wild the meadow grasshopper lives in damp pastures and meadows, spending its time merrily chirruping and feeding on leaves.

Dangers: They have no sting or venom and are no threat to humans.

How to cook/prep: Best roasted or deep-fried.

WATER BOATMAN
Corixidae The water boatman spends its days leisurely rowing across ponds with - photo 5
Corixidae

The water boatman spends its days leisurely rowing across ponds with its oar-like legs, eating algae and bits of vegetable detritus (which makes it unusual among its mostly carnivorous pond peers). But its most impressive skill is the ability to sing with its penis. Yes, you read that right: its a penis-singer. It achieves this by rubbing the penis against its abdomen. The volume is spectacularly high, ranking as the loudest creature relative to its size. It has no teeth and instead dissolves its chosen morsel with its saliva before sucking up the resulting mush using its straw-like mouth. To survive underwater it has developed the ingenious technique of bringing a tiny air bubble under with it, tucked under its wing cases like a primitive scuba diver. Backswimmers (a similar species) are popular in Thailand and are eaten in soups or salted to make a dish known as jom. Water boatmen are also eaten in Mexico, both the adults and their eggs.

Taste: The eggs are quite the delicacy in Mexico, where they are known as Mexican caviar. The adults on the other hand are slightly crablike.

Country: Widely spread throughout the UK.

Habitat: Happiest living their vegetarian existence in weedy ponds and rivers.

Dangers: Some species of backswimmer can bite, so do be careful.

How to cook/prep: Can be roasted, fried or boiled.

HIGHLAND MIDGES
Culicoides impunctatus Although they have a tiny wingspan of 1mm these are - photo 6
Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Insects: An Edible Field Guide»

Look at similar books to Insects: An Edible Field Guide. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Insects: An Edible Field Guide»

Discussion, reviews of the book Insects: An Edible Field Guide and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.