Man Bites Insect

David Gracer eats bugs. Not any old crushed, oozy, sidewalk kind of bug, but insects selected just like any other food — for sustenance and taste. He eats them sautéed, filleted and roasted. And he thinks you should eat them, too.

At a time when “reality” television shows regularly force contestants to consume creepy-crawlies for shock value, Gracer is one of a small but growing number of people earnestly working to transcend the yuck factor. By day, Gracer teaches expository writing at the Community College of Rhode Island. By night, he stalks America’s elite chefs with an electric wok and Tupperware stuffed with six-legged critters in an attempt to convince them that consuming insects is both pleasing to the palate and good for the planet.

Of course, man has eaten bugs most of his existence. The Greeks and the Romans ate them. John the Baptist partook, and yes, locusts are even kosher. Many cultures in Asia, Africa and the Americas still raise insects as livestock or gather them through foraging. If Gracer and his peers have their way, the United States will soon join them. It will be home to domestic insect farms, employ arthropod husbandry experts and begin processing insect “mini-livestock” into food — breads made from insect flour as well as whole bugs in various life stages like pupae and larvae. After all, if Americans love shrimp and lobster, why won’t they eat their terrestrial cousins?

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