Put The Bite on Bugs

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An insect net is an invaluable aid to the hopeful bug forager. You can make one of your own, or - for about $7.00 - buy one. The snare can be wielded in either a "shotgun" or a "rifle" approach. The first method involves simply sweeping your net through the grass in the hope that you'll eventually catch some katydids, grasshoppers, or other usable prey. This technique is surprisingly productive, and can also scare up game so you can spot it and use the second method, which involves concentrating on - and, you hope, snagging - a single insect.

Other helpful foraging equipment includes a crowbar (for ripping open rotten logs containing beetles, grubs, ants, or termites) and forceps (for picking insects out of the wood without mashing them). You'll also need some containers-plastic bags, coffee cans, glass jars, or what have you—to put the catch in.

Grasshoppers can be among the most rewarding insects to hunt, because they're big (up to 2-1/2 inches long) and frequently occur in large numbers. (Some "locust" plagues, right here in the United States, have numbered over 100 billion individual hoppers!) Native American tribes in the

West harvested these insects in bulk and ground them into powder for winter use. There were also round-up barbecues in which the Indians formed a huge circle and drove their prey toward the center by beating the grass with branches. Next, they set fire to the weeds in a carefully prepared ring around the trapped bugs. The flames forced the massed grasshoppers to the very center of the circle, and there cooked them. They were then simply picked up and eaten ... fresh-roasted! You can herd the hoppers in the same way, but instead of burning the grass (which could be hazardous), just catch the cornered bugs in your net.

Aquatic insects can be collected by placing a net or screen in swift-moving water and then turning over rocks upstream. The trap will catch the water bugs as they try to swim to safety.

You could, of course, also raise your own insects ... purchase them canned or bagged in specialty stores ... or buy them fresh from biological supply houses, pet stores, or even companies that sell praying mantises and other natural garden protectors. Such methods, however, take much of the pleasure out of entomophagy, because part of the thrill of the sport is knowing that you can obtain food almost anytime you feel like it, and do so free of charge.

FRY, BOIL, OR GRIND THEM

Cooking insects can be almost as much fun as catching them. As a rule, I prepare my dishes right in front of guests and/or the family, because the delicate morsels really do look and smell great.

One tried and true way to cook grasshoppers (or most other insects) is to fry them in butter—with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley—and then sprinkle them with vinegar. Hoppers can also be dried in the oven, at 200 to 300°F, for about one hour . . . or until they're crispy. Either way, when you bite into one, it'll be as noisy as your favorite potato chip, and more nutritious!

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