Cockroaches and other insects are widely consumed in Asian Countries. In some places, they are so popular that they can be found in busy markets being sold a street food snacks.
Cockroaches are not just household pests
In some parts of China, the bugs are also eaten although it is very rare, and Mr Li tells me he personally does not cook them up, despite their nutrition.
Cockroach: Yes, you can eat cockroaches! Just not the ones you find around your house. Contrary to popular belief, cockroaches can actually be very clean and tasty insects, especially if they are fed on fresh fruits and vegetables. They can be eaten toasted, fried, sauteed, or boiled.
Africa consumes about 25% of the 2,100 insect species recognized as edible worldwide. Among thousands of edible insect species, approximately 18 have been identified as suitable for farming and upscaled production for animal feed or direct consumption by humans. One of such insects is cockroaches.
Yes, they do cook with cockroaches in Thailand.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the highest insect diversity (255 species). Other countries with substantial insect consumption include Cameroon (100 species), Zambia (78 species), the Central African Republic (62 species), South Africa (56 species), and Zimbabwe (52 species).
Studies have shown that once a cockroach touches food, it is rendered contaminated. The contamination effect is not dependent on the length of contact and if pathogens have really been transmitted.
Europe and the West have traditionally viewed entomophagy as an extravagance or even a taboo. It's intriguing to note that the Old Continent is unique in its ban on insect consumption.
6 species of cockroaches, including German and American cockroaches that are commonly found in Malaysia, have been found to show cannibalistic tendencies. And there's a strong chance for it to occur in the other 4,494 species as well.
The South Korean government has officially approved 10 insects for use as food products: pulmuchi (locusts), grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, silkworm larvae, mealworm larvae, two-spotted crickets, Kolbe beetle larvae, Japanese rhinoceros beetle larvae, darkling beetles and western honey bee larvae.
Citrus is one of the scents cockroaches are most known to hate, notably lemon and orange. Keeping a dish of lemon juice on your kitchen counter can deter these pests, as well as placing lemon peels around the home to discourage cockroaches from coming out of hiding.
Cockroaches are raised in large quantities in China for the production of traditional medicine and cosmetics. There are about 100 cockroach farms in the country.
Gibbons and her colleagues ultimately found “strong evidence for pain” in adult flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites. Such insects did not appear to be at the bottom of a hierarchy of animals; they met six out of eight criteria developed for the Sentience Act, which was more than crustaceans.
The roaches oily, greasy appearance, ureic smell, and chosen habitats (dark, dank, & dirty) are all conditions that our brains are wired to be wary of. Then there's their speed. Anything that can move faster than we can, will trigger the fear response due to our ancestor's need to outrun hungry predators.
They can be eaten toasted, fried, sauteed, or boiled. Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches have a taste and texture like greasy chicken. The Dubia roach, a species endemic to Central and South America—taste like blue cheese.
Insects and Arachnids
Strangely enough, one of the most prevalent kind of predator that cockroaches face are fellow insects! The emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa, for example, has an unusual way of preying upon cockroaches. The wasp stings the cockroach's brain, which paralyzes the cockroach.
Squishing a cockroach is not recommended because, as we mentioned earlier, this will cause the cockroach to release oleic acid which can attract more cockroaches.
While the German cockroach can lay significantly more eggs, an American cockroach can still lay around 15 eggs at a time. Cockroaches can quickly breed, so an infestation can swiftly spiral out of control. American cockroaches can live around a year and will continue to produce more cockroaches in the meantime.
Southeast Asia seems to eat the widest variety of bugs. There are open-air markets with different types of insects and a wide range of preparations. These include beetle adults and larva, caterpillars, giant water bugs, scorpions, tarantulas, grasshoppers, crickets and more.
Everywhere but Iceland, that is. Iceland is one of the few habitable places on the planet that is mosquito-free, and nobody really seems to know why. It's not nearly as cold as Antarctica, which is so frigid that mosquitoes (and people, for that matter) could never survive exposure to the elements there for long.
For example, experts recommend you stay away from insects that are brightly-colored, especially smelly, or hairy. It's also a good idea to steer clear of insects that bite or sting. Those that carry diseases, such as flies, ticks, and mosquitoes, should also stay off the menu.
Even though cockroaches, like all living creatures, need food to survive, it's very unlikely that you could starve them. These insects have gone through millions of years of instinctual evolution. They have learned to utilize any crumb or scrap they can find, they could possibly eat it and live off of it.
Cockroaches are omnivores that eat plants and meat. They have been recorded to eat human flesh of both the living and the dead, although they are more likely to take a bite of fingernails, eyelashes, feet and hands. The bites may cause irritation, lesions and swelling. Some have suffered from minor wound infections.
Aside from pasta and chocolate, cockroach parts are also found in popcorn, fruit, and cheese.