Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Just watching this bbc documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01599yk

I had no idea bug-eating was so popular in these Buddhist countries - Thailand, Cambodia ect.
Anyone had any experience eating insects? For the Thais/those been to Thailand, is it really commonly though of as good food? It is quite hard to believe.

Edit: They go to a monastery near the end and offer some ant dishes to the monks to "atone for the sin of being an ant-farmer".

Coyote wrote:Just watching this bbc documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01599yk

I had no idea bug-eating was so popular in these Buddhist countries - Thailand, Cambodia ect.
Anyone had any experience eating insects? For the Thais/those been to Thailand, is it really commonly though of as good food? It is quite hard to believe.

Edit: They go to a monastery near the end and offer some ant dishes to the monks to "atone for the sin of being an ant-farmer".

It would indeed be better for the environment, if instead of raising cattle as a 'source of protein', that we raised insects on a mass scale instead. But just as with cattle, the problem remains that they are sentient beings who seek pleasure, dislike pain, want to live and not to die. So as far as I'm concerned, we ought to focus our energies on finding efficient ways to get protein from plants instead.

As for some folks actually enjoying eating them, what a nightmarish idea. Our closest 'relatives' in the animal realm, chimps and gorillas, are primarily fruit-eaters. Chimps will sometimes eat termites, etc, but then, they are animals. We humans don't need to go to such extremes, there is adequate nutrition available from plant sources for anyone living in an agricultural society.

manas wrote: It would indeed be better for the environment, if instead of raising cattle as a 'source of protein', that we raised insects on a mass scale instead. But just as with cattle, the problem remains that they are sentient beings who seek pleasure, dislike pain, want to live and not to die. So as far as I'm concerned, we ought to focus our energies on finding efficient ways to get protein from plants instead.

As for some folks actually enjoying eating them, what a nightmarish idea. Our closest 'relatives' in the animal realm, chimps and gorillas, are primarily fruit-eaters. Chimps will sometimes eat termites, etc, but then, they are animals. We humans don't need to go to such extremes, there is adequate nutrition available from plant sources for anyone living in an agricultural society.

I agree. It's better to look for sustainable plant sources ethically and environmentally.
Also it's like lobster where you have to kill them immediately before you eat them, making them a not very Buddhist food. In the documentary you see them being killed by the vendor or being fried alive. It's interesting though, and I wouldn't really have a problem with eating them providing the killing was far removed from me. But saying that I don't have a problem with eating meat either. I don't think some of them look any worse than shrimp or crab.
But environmentally speaking it is far better, I would think, to farm insects. Mammals just take up so much space, food, and water.
The really interesting thing though, is that it isn't really an extreme. We likely survived on a diet of insects in the past, and in some places in Thailand they seem to still, and really enjoy it. Brains, eyes, marrow ect. all seem strange to us westerners but were no problem for our primitive ancestors nor in other cultures.

Coyote wrote:Just watching this bbc documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01599yk

I had no idea bug-eating was so popular in these Buddhist countries - Thailand, Cambodia ect.
Anyone had any experience eating insects? For the Thais/those been to Thailand, is it really commonly though of as good food? It is quite hard to believe.

Edit: They go to a monastery near the end and offer some ant dishes to the monks to "atone for the sin of being an ant-farmer".

Bug Eating is found in allot of countries, and you probably intentionally consumed a product made with bugs. I think it is cochineal food coloring is a Bug based e-number. and there are people who make it part of their meals in every country (I mean the natives to the land). I remember the earthworm jim comic having a worm lolipop also. and China do have a large selection of insect dishes.
This isn't really relevant to the thread, but your last line reminded me of it. There is a cemetery in Japan where companies put up memorials for the dead (not sure if it is a specific area or in many cemeteries...). and one memorial is by a termite extermination company who put a monument up for the termites.

Cittasanto wrote: There is a cemetery in Japan where companies put up memorials for the dead (not sure if it is a specific area or in many cemeteries...). and one memorial is by a termite extermination company who put a monument up for the termites.

I like that. Termites are actually fascinating creatures. If we got to know them better, we might have more empathy for them, instead of seeing them as merely 'pests':

There's also a really fun documentary on ants that the bbc made called "planet ant", where they transport a colony of ants into a lab like environment to observe them. Though it seems quite cruel I don't think the ants noticed. It's amazing what these little creatures can do.

I love me some crickets. The first time I had some, I was with my sister and we went into a candy store where they were selling a package that had two each of cooked crickets, mealworms, chocolate covered mealworms, and chocolate covered crickets. I didn't particularly care for the mealworms but loved the crickets.

A couple years ago, I bought 5 dozen crickets from the pet store and stir fried them in olive oil and salt. It was wonderful. Kinda looker popcorn. If like to try tarantulas some day. They are supposed to be like crab, which incidentally I'd pretty much a bug imo along with shrimp and lobster and crayfish.

Mojo wrote: A couple years ago, I bought 5 dozen crickets from the pet store and stir fried them in olive oil and salt. It was wonderful.

Maybe for you, mojo, but not for the crickets. How would you feel if you were fried up like that?

manas wrote:Maybe for you, mojo, but not for the crickets.

Is it really any worse than shrimp? Unless he fried them alive...

Coyote wrote:

manas wrote:Maybe for you, mojo, but not for the crickets.

Is it really any worse than shrimp? Unless he fried them alive...

Crickets come still alive from the pet store. I'm sorry if I sound harsh but as this is a Buddhist site, it is our duty to inform people who come here, that not only should we not kill or harm living beings, but that we ought to maybe express a little bit of regret or remorse if in the past we did so, rather than delight.

If they came already dead, then I am happy to apologise to him. But reading his post I got the impression that they were actually fried while still living:

A couple years ago, I bought 5 dozen crickets from the pet store and stir fried them in olive oil and salt. It was wonderful. Kinda looker popcorn.

Crickets are neither the same shape, nor the same colour, as popcorn. So then, the 'popcorn' analogy refers to what?

manas wrote:
Crickets come still alive from the pet store. I'm sorry if I sound harsh but as this is a Buddhist site, it is our duty to inform people who come here, that not only should we not kill or harm living beings, but that we ought to maybe express a little bit of regret or remorse if in the past we did so, rather than delight.

If they came already dead, then I am happy to apologise to him. But reading his post I got the impression that they were actually fried while still living.

You're right, my mistake. I have seen dead ones sold as snake food, but god knows where they've been or what's been put on them.

Shrimp is nothing. If you eat squid or cuttlefish you can eat anything. Think about it - bug eyed critters with translucent flesh, skin which change colour, tentacles with suckers , they swim backwards and secrete ink.

pilgrim wrote:Shrimp is nothing. If you eat squid or cuttlefish you can eat anything. Think about it - bug eyed critters with translucent flesh, skin which change colour, tentacles with suckers , they swim backwards and secrete ink.

Once again, amazing creatures which, if we got to know them better, we would feel too much compassion for, to ever consider eating. (I'm not judging anyone who was served up this as food though. I too have eaten all sorts of things out of politeness, because it was offered with goodwill.)

manas wrote:

Mojo wrote: A couple years ago, I bought 5 dozen crickets from the pet store and stir fried them in olive oil and salt. It was wonderful.

Maybe for you, mojo, but not for the crickets. How would you feel if you were fried up like that?

Terrible. I'm glad I'm not a cricket, though I'm not entirely sure what sense faculties they have.

Crickets kind of taste like popcorn. Its been a while but I think I the them in the freezer before cooking them. I'm not a vegetarian. I mostly eat fish and chicken but will eat about anything really. I'm not particularly concerned about the suffering of something killed in the name of food. I'm mostly concerned with human suffering and I'm not concerned with or believe in rebirth. I still believe Buddhism has a good place in my life.