OT In Defense of Tofu

"slenon" wrote in message
. com...
Many
dead and cooked insects eclipse tofu.


--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm




Interesting! Fried crickets are something I've always wanted to try but have
never had enough tequila around to make me brave.

It's fascinating what people eat in different regions around the world. It's
also interesting what virtually all the different "poor peoples' " cuisines
have in common: Rice, beans, flat bread, and chilis.

I wonder if, given a chance, the Thais would forgo deep fried locusts with
garlic chili sauce for a daily Big Mac. I know the coronary artery disease
in their country would rise to match ours if they did.

Off to cook dinner: chateau****inbriand with vienna sausages.

"Lennie Richardson" wrote in message
.com...

Interesting! Fried crickets are something I've always wanted to try but
have
never had enough tequila around to make me brave.

I had fried grasshoppers when I was boy. I had heard or read about them
somewhere, and they sounded exotic and appealing. Lo and behold, a small
deli in Kenosha, WI., for God's sake, actually sold little tins of them. I
pestered my mother for months until she finally gave up and bought them for
me. They were crunchy and tasted pretty much like oily ashes. That was a
long time ago, so I'm not really sure, but I like to think I learned
something that day.

It's fascinating what people eat in different regions around the world.
It's
also interesting what virtually all the different "poor peoples' "
cuisines
have in common: Rice, beans, flat bread, and chilis.

Well, I would substitute cereal crops in general for just rice.....corn in
the Americas, millet in Africa, wheat in the Middle-East and Europe,
etc.....and add potatoes and a couple of other non-cereal starches (starchy
root crops are very important in native cuisines virtually everywhere in the
world)....but point taken, and it's a good one.

The vast majority of staples in virtually all cultures throughout history
have always been as bland and tastless as a deep fried turkey. The notable
exception on your list above is chilis, which differ from the rest in that
they are, in most places, not a staple at all, but rather a seasoning used
to make the staples more interesting. Chilis also happen to be, depending
on exactly how one defines the term of course, the most popluar "seasoning"
in the world.

An interesting ommission from your list is a group of foods that, in most
places, inhabit a sort of middle ground between staples and adjuncts.
Tomatoes and the entire onion family come readily to mind. Onions ARE in
fact a staple in much of India, and just try to imagine Italian food without
tomatoes. Um......****, I'd better stop before I get carried
away......people gonna think I'm obsessed with food or something.

I wonder if, given a chance, the Thais would forgo deep fried locusts with
garlic chili sauce for a daily Big Mac.

Only if sufficient pressure were applied. The psychology of advertising is
complex and fraught with all kinds of pitfalls but in the main, it DOES
work.

I know the coronary artery disease
in their country would rise to match ours if they did.

Amen.

Off to cook dinner: chateau****inbriand with vienna sausages.

Navy bean soup with onions, bacon, and Kassler rippchen here tonight!

Wolfgang

In article ,
says...

I had fried grasshoppers when I was boy. I had heard or read about them
somewhere, and they sounded exotic and appealing. Lo and behold, a small
deli in Kenosha, WI., for God's sake, actually sold little tins of them. I
pestered my mother for months until she finally gave up and bought them for
me. They were crunchy and tasted pretty much like oily ashes. That was a
long time ago, so I'm not really sure, but I like to think I learned
something that day.

Obviously, you need to eat fresher grasshoppers. Come visit me
anytime from late July to mid-September, and you will find about
a bazillion (roughly) grasshoppers in my garden, cheerfully eating
all my veggies down to the ground. If you eat enough of them, I
might even quit spraying them with insecticide.

Kevin

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
...

Obviously, you need to eat fresher grasshoppers. Come visit me
anytime from late July to mid-September, and you will find about
a bazillion (roughly) grasshoppers in my garden, cheerfully eating
all my veggies down to the ground.

Well, the freshness issue did occur to me, but the truth is that after my
initial experiment my zeal was somewhat diminished. However, I appreciate
the offer but, while we don't have so many here that they are a problem in
the garden (locust plagues seem to be pretty much an arid land phenomenon),
we have enough to satisfy my needs.....even in the seemingly unlikely event
that I should suddenly become enamored. I'll keep you in mind if we ever
run short.

If you eat enough of them, I
might even quit spraying them with insecticide.

Um.....thanks.....I guess.

Wolfgang
who, if the truth be told, was never really all that fond of diazanon
either.

Grasshoppers have large amounts of chitin as do crickets and beetles. The
palatability is greatly decreased from the larvael stages of beetles and
termites. As Wolfgang notes, these demand seasoning to be at all attractive
to the palate. Still, they are life-sustaining and, in the case of grubs,
if fixed well, not to unlike shrimp.

But I do prefer the left-over cioppino, tasting brightly of tomato and
basil, thick with shrimp, grouper, cod, and lobster, that calls me now from
the refrigerator.

--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

Lennie Richardson:
I wonder if, given a chance, the Thais would forgo deep fried locusts with
garlic chili sauce for a daily Big Mac. I know the coronary artery disease
in their country would rise to match ours if they did.

I suspect that large percentage of them would if such fair was locally
available at an affordable price. On the other hand, I can live without any
McDonalds product but would miss Mee Krob and Pad Thai, and Sing Ha if I
lived someplace that did not have a source of these comestibles.


--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

"slenon" wrote in
. com:

Lennie Richardson:
I wonder if, given a chance, the Thais would forgo deep fried locusts
with garlic chili sauce for a daily Big Mac. I know the coronary
artery disease in their country would rise to match ours if they did.

I suspect that large percentage of them would if such fair was
locally available at an affordable price. On the other hand, I can
live without any McDonalds product but would miss Mee Krob and Pad
Thai, and Sing Ha if I lived someplace that did not have a source of
these comestibles.



My favorite bit of Jewish trivia is the observation that locusts are
kosher!!

I guess the reasoning is that if there are enough locusts around, there may
not be much else to eat.

Scott

My favorite bit of Jewish trivia is the observation that locusts are
kosher!!
I guess the reasoning is that if there are enough locusts around, there may
not be much else to eat.
Scott

That may be as logical a reason as any I've heard. The most important part
of the feast is to discard the legs before eating the insect.


--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"slenon" wrote in
. com:

Lennie Richardson:
I wonder if, given a chance, the Thais would forgo deep fried
locusts
with garlic chili sauce for a daily Big Mac. I know the coronary
artery disease in their country would rise to match ours if they
did.

I suspect that large percentage of them would if such fair was
locally available at an affordable price. On the other hand, I
can
live without any McDonalds product but would miss Mee Krob and
Pad
Thai, and Sing Ha if I lived someplace that did not have a source
of
these comestibles.



My favorite bit of Jewish trivia is the observation that locusts are
kosher!!

I guess the reasoning is that if there are enough locusts around,
there may
not be much else to eat.

Brings to mind John the baptist living on locusts and honey. I read
somewhere, a long long time ago, that what he was actually eating was
the fruit of a variety of locust tree and that the grasshopper thingy
was a result of a rather obvious lexical mix-up. For many years I
thought this made perfect sense, an opinion bolstered by the fact that
carob also goes by the name's "St. John's Bread" and "locust bean",
and that related species of leguminous trees are common in many desert
regions. On the other hand, as you point out, the insect is kosher
and locusts would be handy little packages of protein in an area which
they have recently denuded. However, it eventually occurred to me
that the conflation of locust, the insect, with locust, the tree, only
works in English.....unless the Greek, Latin, Aramaic (or whatever
other language the original references from the New Testament were
written in) cognates happened, by an exceedingly implausible
coincidence, to have precisely the same built in ambiguity. And
so.....

Matthew 3:4

King James: And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a
leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild
honey.

Latin Vulgate: ipse autem Iohannes habebat vestimentum de pilis
camelorum et zonam pelliciam circa lumbos suos esca autem eius erat
lucustae et mel silvestre

And.....

Exodus 10:4

King James: Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to
morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:

Latin Vulgate: sin autem resistis et non vis dimittere eum ecce ego
inducam cras lucustam in fines tuos

Clearly, the older Vulgate agrees with KJ that John was eating bugs.

John Gill says:

"...by the "locusts" some have thought are meant a sort of fish called
"crabs", which John found upon the banks of Jordan, and lived upon;
others, that a sort of wild fruit, or the tops of trees and plants he
found in the wilderness and fed on, are designed; but the truth is,
these were a sort of creatures "called locusts", and which by the
ceremonial law were lawful to be eaten, see Lev_11:22. The Misnic
doctors describe such as are fit to be eaten after this manner;

"all that have four feet and four wings, and whose thighs and wings
cover the greatest part of their body, and whose name is ??? "a
locust."''

For it seems they must not only have these marks and signs, but must
be so called, or by a word in any other language which answers to it,
as the commentators on this passage observe; and very frequently do
these writers speak of locusts that are clean, and may be eaten.
Maimonides reckons up "eight" sorts of them, which might be eaten
according to the law. Besides, these were eaten by people of other
nations, particularly the Ethiopians, Parthians, and Lybians. "

Albert Barnes agrees, without making any mention of the vegetative
"locust", and amplifies considerably on who ate them, methods of
preparation, etc. Unfortunately, neither provides any clues as to the
origin of the alternative interpretation.

Wolfgang
and (OBROFF) trout prefer the bugs, too.

Wolfgang:
Brings to mind John the baptist living on locusts and honey.

Sufficient honey, perhaps acacia honey given the locale, would have helped
with palatability. In fact, I think I'd prefer the locusts over locust
beans.

--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm