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Following on from two earlier posts (first post, second post) I tried the three invertebrate snacks that I got from Selfridges and, using the correct binomial names (as two of the names were wrong on the packaging), here are my thoughts:

I was disappointed with the very mild curry taste of the thai green curry crickets (Acheta domesticus) which didn’t taste like thai green curry at all, more like mild curry powder, but had an inoffensive taste overall. This was an interesting species to try because it is commonly sold in pet shops as reptile/invertebrate food and will happily live on many things (including vegetable waste) making it a viable invertebrate to culture for human food.

Edible insect: chocolate covered scorpion

The chocolate covered scorpion (Mesobuthus martensii) was fairly pleasant; the crunchy texture of the scorpion went well with the chocolate, making it feel like a biscuit. There was a very subtle taste of something savoury but it was masked by the taste of the chocolate. I would eat these again and so would my girlfriend.

Edible insect: giant toasted ant

A number of my friends tried the giant toasted ants (Atta cephalotes) and none of them liked the taste or the smell. I was the only one that liked them but they do have a very strong and distinctive taste, so I can see why they didn’t get universal taste bud acclaim! I think the packet description is fairly accurate, “… similar to crispy bacon with an earthy taste”.

I had a good time trying these and I intend to pursue the topic of insects as a food in further posts. If you’re interested in reading a bit more about insects and food now, have a read of Bug Girl’s latest post on cochineal, an insect derived food colouring.

I shall add some photos to this post soon.

Earlier in December I wrote about a new range of snacks that Selfridges had started to sell, and during a Christmas trip to London I visited Selfridges to buy some. I (and some friends) will be eating them soon to provide you some more photos and to describe how they taste.

Tenebrio molitor lollypops: part of the Selfridges display of invertebrate snacks (Copyright Elizabeth Livermore)

All of the snacks were from edible, an alternative online food shop, and were a little cheaper to buy at Selfridges than from the edible website.

I checked the packaging and found that the species names did not follow the proper protocol for binomial nomenclature: all names were either entirely in lowercase or uppercase, and none were italicised. The class of the scorpion was listed incorrectly as ‘INSECTA’ when it should have been Arachnida.

From left to right: Giant toasted ants, £12.45; Thai green curry crickets, £2.44; and a chocolate covered scorpion, £4.64.

I also investigated the species names (Giant toasted ants: Atta cephalotes, Thai green curry crickets: Acheta domestica, and the chocolate covered scorpion: Buthus martensii) and from my brief searches, A. cephalotes seems correct but the other two are synonyms.

I checked A. domestica in the Orthoptera Species File and it is listed as an unjustified emendation of A. domesticus. I found an entry for Mesobuthus martensii on the UniProt Taxonomy database where it listed B. martensii as a synonym.

I guess edible are not quite as good biologists as you would hope.