A bit buggy

PBS news is busy hyping a story about the latest in upscale culinary fashion trends: eating grubs and insects. The News Hour is the chief source of broadcast news in this house. I hope they appreciate the fact that they have an audience in which the critical faculty is turned on.

There's an angle here that PBS hasn't explored. What we hear is "isn't it about time we joined the rest of the world?" However, the rest of the world eats grubs and bugs because people have to. Here, this addition to the food pyramid is chiefly a novelty cuisine for the one percent. At least, it's presented as such. Beyond whatever taste the little critters may have (not much, apparently), there is an odour of hypocrisy here. We don't have any coverage or reflection on the possibility that there are also Americans who eat insects out of necessity. Also, this is all about eating bugs on purpose, and doesn't consider the wee beasties that may be a part of our daily diet by accident.

Let's also consider that certain seafood--crab, lobster and shrimp--are pretty closely related to certain insects. I don't like them, either.