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| Author | Topic: Dried fish, insects |
| engesongwok 01-28-2003 05:14 PM | What is your opinion about eating dried fish and other marine animals? I was tempted to buy some in the local Chinese marketplace...the packaging had a warning about soaking and completely cooking things before eating. (damn and I really wanted to try the dried squid. It at least smelled good through the packaging!) I thought I better get a second or third opinion before trying it. I just don't know. Eggs have a similiar warning about completely cooking eggs before eating. What about insects? I have eaten insects in other countries, but they have always been cooked in some way. I am aware that California indians collected a number of insects, which they dried or ate fresh, but sometimes they were cooked. One item is the brine fly, which are high in protein and especially fat. They wash up on shore of extremely akline lakes, where little else can live, except maybe some brine shrimp and algae. They are just collected and mostly eaten dry as is. Supposed to taste really good. Then there is aphids, and aphid liquids that are supposed to be like thin fresh honey. I don't know the ins and outs of collection, but I think it would be interesting to try if I only knew how. Any ideas, comments or suggestions? Thank you, James |
| Wai 01-29-2003 01:44 PM | quote:it is a no-no; they use salt in the drying process... quote:that is a food i know NOTHING about. Yes, original people have eaten insects, worms, snails etc., but you need to know what you can eat, and how, and i don't. quote:yes, any input on issues like these are very welcome... |
| engesongwok 01-29-2003 04:04 PM | Well, here is some information about california Indians. (There is a section about Insects-most of them are roasted-so I guess that isn't very helpful) http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/outreach/pdfs/teaching_kit_low_resolution.pdf Some information about Alkali Flies or "kutsavi". http://www.thesierraweb.com/sightseeing/monolake/flies.html another website, with an interesting quote reguarding "Kutsavi". http://www.monolake.org/naturalhistory/kutzadikaa.htm#kutsavi "Kutsavi, or alkali fly pupae, were a significant source of food for the native people of the Mono Basin. Each summer the Kutzadika’a people would harvest the alkali fly pupae from the shallow waters of Mono Lake. The pupae are rich in fat and protein necessary for the metamorphoses of the adult fly. With approximately 15 calories per pupae (about the size of a grain of rice), kutsavi was an excellent source of food than could be stored easily. William Brewer of the California Geologic Survey remarked of the food in 1863, “The Indians come far and near to gather them. The worms are dried in the sun, the shell rubbed off, when a yellowish kernel remains, like a small yellow grain of rice…The Indians gave me some; it does not taste bad, and if one were ignorant of its origins, it would make fine soup.” The thought of eating insects seems disgusting to most people, but in the context of sociological and cultural comparisons, we can contrast modern American culture with historic Kutzadika’a culture and ask ourselves a fair question: Why do we choose to eat food predominantly low in nutrition, requiring tremendous energy to produce and process, instead of eating of food produced naturally, higher in energy and nutrition?" |