I would love to Skype with your class or book club to talk about eating bugs, farming bugs, or why a farmer’s daughter from southwest Virginia promotes agricultural revolution. Just send me an email.
Why Not Eat Insects? The TED Talk that started it all, given by Marcel Dicke
Finger-lickin’ Grub The Story of Don Bugito, the first American food cart to serve edible insects
Little Herds Nonprofit in Austin, Texas dedicated to teaching the next generation about edible insects
Bugsolutely makes cricket pasta
Chapul sells cricket protein bars
Chirps Chips pack protein into chips
Entomo Farms is certified organic
EXO “Energy bars that put a chirp in your step”
Can you imagine eating grasshopper kabobs as casually as shrimp?
Did you know that insects were once a common convenience food in North America? (page 9) Does knowing that insects have been enjoyed all over the world for centuries change your perception of eating insects?
How does Wright’s family history complicate or complement the ethics of eating insects?
What was your reaction to reading that insects are already present in many common foods, such as “tomato soup, peanut butter, and chocolate”? (page 36)
Wright often includes the etymologies, or origins, of words such as “meal,” “milieu,” “worth,” and “Ela,” the Cherokee word for Earth. Why do you think she includes these histories?
What is the effect of incorporating the story of the Trail of Tears and the White Eagle corn seeds saved by the Cherokee people? (page 47)
Does the story of the shamir sound more or less farfetched than eating bugs in the first place? (page 23)
What is your favorite description of the taste of edible bugs?
Are you more convinced of the need to find alternatives to Big Ag by global population growth, climate change, or limited land and freshwater resources?
Which would you try first—a lab-grown hamburger, whose flavor is described as being “close to meat,” or an edible insect? (page 46)