The La Jara chronicle., 1911-03-03
WHAT TO DO WITH
THE GRASSHOPPERS.

| per problem Wnlcn we nave not
considered. This is man him
self.
Grasshoppers as food for man.
John the Baptist ate grasshop-
pers and wild honey and did man
kind service on the diet. We
have known for a long time that
grasshoppers have been and are
eaten by many people in different
parts of the world; but it is some
what of surprise to learn that
this article of diet was used and
advocated by an eminent ento-
mologist in this country.
Mr.. C. V. Riley, first govern
ment entomologist and the found
er of what is now the Bureau of
Entomology in the United States
Department of Agriculture, was
entomologist in Missouri during
the devastating raids of the
Rocky Mountain locust that did
so much damage in western Kan
sas and Nebraska nearly half a
century ago. In his eighth re-
port he tells his experiences
and makes his recommendations.
He says: "It had long been a
desire with me to test the value
of this species as food, and /
did not lose the opportunity to
crafty that desire which the
recent locust invasions into some
of the Mississippi valley states af
forded. l knew well enough that
the attempt would produce ridi
cule and mirth, or even disgust,
the vast majority of our people,
unaccustomed to anything of the
sort and associating with the
word insect or bug everything
horrid and repulsive.
Whenever occasion presented,
| partook of locusts prepared in
different ways, and one day ate
no other kind of food, and must
have consumed, in one way or
| tlbcbItl, Jllc oIbSIdDCt VI StN ti al
thousand halfgrown locusts. Com
mencing the experiment with some
misgivings, and fully expecting
to have to overcome disagreeable
flavor, | was soon most agreeably
surprised to find that the in
sects were quite palatable in
whatever WY prepared. The
flavor of the raw locust is most
strong and disagreeable, but that
of the cooked insect is agree
able and sufficiently mild to be
easily neutralized by anything
with which they may be mixed,
and to admit of easy disguise, ac-
cording to taste or fancy. But
the great point l would make
in their favor is that they need
no elaborate preparation or sea
soning, and that they really re-
quire no disguise; and herein lies
their value in exceptional emer-
gencies, for when people are driv'
en- to the point of starvation by
these ravenous hosts, it follows
that all other food is scarce or
unattainable. A broth, made by
boiling the unfledged Calopteni
for two hours in the proper guam
tity of water, and seasoning with
nothing but pepper and salt, is
quite palatable and scarcely to
be distinguished from beef broth,
though it has a slight flavor pc
culiar to it and not easy to be
described. The addition of lit
tie butter improves it, and the
flavor can, of course, be modi-
fled with mint, sage and other
spices ad libitum. Fried or
roasted in nothing but their own
oil, with the addition of a little
salt, they are by no means un-
pleasant eating and have quite a
flavor, like most peculiar and not
unpleasant flavors, that one can
soon learn to get fond Of
The objection that a fondness
for this unusual article of food
is due to an idiosyncrasy of the
author is overcome by further
evidence, for we read later: 81
sent a bushel of the scalded in
sects to Mr.. John Bonnet, one of
the oldest and best known cater
ers in Saint I,nnis MASTER of the