Elsewhere I have mentioned eating strange things in Australia. Witchetty grubs (offered but declined) and ant bums are probably the strangest. We were also treated to various cuts of kangaroo and a fish called a Barramundi (by the way, a fine eating fish but a strange name). So when some friends told us we were going to get and cook some bugs I thought “I have had it with Aussies. Bugs my butt. I don’t need no stinking bugs for supper “and more graphic utterances. Can a thought be an utterance, or is it perhaps a thoughterance? Anyway, they kept us in the dark as to the nature of the creatures for the best part of a week. There was talk of “Moreton Bay Bugs” and "Balmain Bugs” and generic bugs. I assured the hosts that I didn’t eat the damn grubs and I wasn’t going to eat any kind of bug. Period.Of course in the end I tucked in like a starving convict and highly recommend the bugs. They turned out to be a kind of crustacean related to the spiny lobster, only with short flat antennae instead of long ones. A real treat after all. God, but Aussies are a perverse lot, aren’t they? But here is a perversity that can easily transfer to the panhandle, because we have our own “bugs” here, called “bulldozer lobsters”. Tell your next dinner party friends that the appetizer will be an Australian treat made from bugs. Ha! And, if they cancel, all the more for you.
Image: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/3469/Balmain-Bug_medium.jpg
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1 comment:
Mmmm, I ate a very starnge looking shellfish bug in Italy. I have this problem, when I see a food item I've never had or seen before, I have to have it. I'm compelled to buy and figure out how to cook it whatever it is.
What I bought were cicale. Otherwise known as the praying mantis shrimp. There are two varieties: one has a club-like claw that the shrimp swings at speeds equal to bullets. The claw can break 1/4 in thick aquarium glass. The other type has a cutting claw that can sever a finger. I had the cutting type which is what is found in Italy. Delicious but lots of work to clean. Unfortunately American fishermen consider them pests not food. They do live here on the Atlantic coastal waters.
I wish I could attach a photo because these are quite clearly insects.
:)
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