I have 3 adorable sisters, one of whom is always trying to push me out of my comfort zone. She recently pushed me out of a boat because I was hesitating getting in the water.
Imagine my glee recently when I discovered an opportunity to push her out of her comfort zone. Those of you who follow me on Facebook have heard part of this story, but bear with me.
We were on a Caribbean island. I was ahead of our group of six, when I came across a foursome stopped on the trail looking at a tree with a termite tube. One of them was telling the others that termites taste “kind of minty/chocolatey”. They discussed this a bit, then all four sampled one just as my group was approaching. My curiosity abounded at this point. What does a termite really taste like?
I looked at my sister with a devilish gleam in my eyes challenging her to try eating a termite. I can’t remember who went first, but we all tried one, snatching ones directly off the tree and popping them into our mouths. It wasn’t really crunchy like I thought it would be, although there was one little crunchy thing in it, maybe a termite pellet.
I thought it tasted more herby and astringent than minty/chocolatey. My husband, who owns a termite company, thought they were probably of the Formosan varietal, although I wouldn’t know by taste given my infantile termite palate.
I found out that we had entered the insect-eating world of entomophagy. And that there is a cookbook called The Pestaurant Cookbook devoted to tasty insect recipes. I also found out that kilogram for kilogram termites are higher in protein than beef. And if people switched to an insect-rich diet it would help reduce world hunger, we could reclaim from the livestock industry 30% of the world’s land, and polar ice caps could be saved due to the reduction of 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Like wow!, but I am still not sold.
What is the real takeaway here? Pushing yourselves and taking up challenges can be the real spice to life. Thanks Sister P, and just know that I believe in revenge.
