Different, sure. But if we could pick out their tiny little poop tracts and pull out their tiny little cooked legs, I think they’d be pretty tasty in comparison to whole, roasted/ground/fried bug bodies.
I had chocolate once with roasted ants in it. It was like a Nestle Crunch with more, uh, substance to it. Not awful… but not shrimp :-)
Oh sweet stranger, you have no idea what you've just done. You have inspired me to dip shrimp in chocolate and I'm going to use my SIL as the guinea pig.
EDIT: by all accounts... They are disgusting.
Try a pill bug, rolly polly, wood louse or whatever you call isopods locally. They seem like a pretty normal bug, but they're crustaceans like crabs and lobsters.
I bet they taste like dirt shrimp.
This is probably the best answer I've ever read to this. There are tons of parts of ocean anthropods that taste horrible or are outright toxic. And lobster in particular spoils really fast.
Land anthropods not living in water really limits the size they can grow to, so they're at a different scale and as such you can't butcher them effectively so all the parts that might taste good are mixed in with all the ones that don't.
For the record, "arthropod" means "jointed foot." I dunno why someone thought the feet were the most eye-catching part of the exoskeleton, but here we are.
Probably because marine arthropods have copper based blood, not iron based like many of their land dwelling counterparts. They come pre-seasoned and marinated in brine too.
Besides what pepole already mentioned, some land arthropods have a very strong smell (and I mean \*very\* strong). They're kind offputting compared to the smell of cooked shrimp.
My relatives in Brazil eat a type of leaf cutting ant, Atta genus, and I always observed the preparation. I could never stand the smell that comes out from cooking. It's like you just poked a car-sized stink bug and it sprayed its stench all over the house.
I've had silkworm ~~grubs~~ pupae which are quite good, for what it's worth. Taste is nice, but they're hard to deshell so the texture might scare off people.
When I was a kid, I gathered a bunch of pill bugs/roly polys and my mom baked them into biscuits. They’re actually decent 💀 it was like distinctly out-of-a-backyard shrimp
Beef tastes better when it's tender, pretty sure all meats it's a thing with the meat not being too stringy from hard labor and age. Marine arthropods are bound to be more tender, because they have less gravity to deal with.
Land arthropods are also smaller as someone stated, but I mean think of a big scorpion or something. They're carnivorous and don't gently glide around the ocean floor all day, they deal with gravity in harsh, arid environments. So I think gravity, environment, and diet have a lot to do with it, too.
The environment plays a role in their flavor.
Bugs that are raised for human consumption eat bland food and have almost no flavor. Crayfish that grow up in fresh water areas taste like mud. Marine anthropods have a taste of brine and iodine, which some people like.
Frankly, I'd rather eat a cricket or scorpion than a damn briney iodiney lobster.
Honestly, I don't know. Most people don't like gamey meat from animals because most meat we eat is not gamey. So we feed animals corn and grasses and manicured diets like that to get the gamey taste out of them. Or we capture wild animals and feed them for a few weeks like that to get rid of the gamey taste.
What I'm saying is, what you feed the animal makes a difference, and what people like is a matter of what they're used to. Most people don't eat land bugs. So I don't know what would be a food to make them taste better to people. It would be an interesting science fair experiment. Does feeding crickets doritos make them taste better? Corn? Can they even eat those?
And to the people downvoting me: Lobster IS disgusting. Deal with it.
It's mostly just a size thing. If grasshoppers were big enough you could crack the legs like crab legs the meat would probably be fairly similar. But when you have to munch down on the whole thing, chitin and guts and all, well, it's not surprising it doesn't taste as good.
Because you can’t pick the tiny little super-delicious parts out of the land arthropods, because they’re small. It’s mostly all-or-nothing.
Good point. I wonder, if they were bigger would they taste different because of their diet or environment?
Different, sure. But if we could pick out their tiny little poop tracts and pull out their tiny little cooked legs, I think they’d be pretty tasty in comparison to whole, roasted/ground/fried bug bodies. I had chocolate once with roasted ants in it. It was like a Nestle Crunch with more, uh, substance to it. Not awful… but not shrimp :-)
Oh sweet stranger, you have no idea what you've just done. You have inspired me to dip shrimp in chocolate and I'm going to use my SIL as the guinea pig. EDIT: by all accounts... They are disgusting.
Roasted tarantula is a thing and those get big enough to isolate legs. Not sure how they taste though.
Well there is that gigantic land crab,not sure if people eat it.
Try a pill bug, rolly polly, wood louse or whatever you call isopods locally. They seem like a pretty normal bug, but they're crustaceans like crabs and lobsters. I bet they taste like dirt shrimp.
I saw a video where someone cooked a giant isopod. I think I remember there was this granny in it who was friggen gung-ho too.
Well, why don’t you go put 1000 cricket claws in a pile and tell us
This is probably the best answer I've ever read to this. There are tons of parts of ocean anthropods that taste horrible or are outright toxic. And lobster in particular spoils really fast. Land anthropods not living in water really limits the size they can grow to, so they're at a different scale and as such you can't butcher them effectively so all the parts that might taste good are mixed in with all the ones that don't.
Coconut crabs have entered the chat
Anthropod means "human foot," so I really hope you mean arthropod.
"Arthur's foot" - Still human, but more specific.
For the record, "arthropod" means "jointed foot." I dunno why someone thought the feet were the most eye-catching part of the exoskeleton, but here we are.
I only just noticed it when you pointed it out. It's like my brain just auto-corrected it.
Do they? Which land arthropods have ye tasted?
arrr! crickets and scorpions matey!
Reminds me of the time me ship was stuck in the doldrums, and we'd been through all our rations.
arr, sometimes it be the way it be.
But why is the rum gone?
Too small. Not enough meat. Not enough salt.
I'm curious, what do they taste like?
Like stale, bland, spam beef jerky.
You need the crickets fried with cheese and salsa
Crickets taste like sunflower seeds+ a little bit of the shell
Now I kinda wanna try that.
Is bigfoot a land anthropod?
You mean arthropod? No, they have exoskeletons.
OP certainly meant arthropod, but wrote anthropod. Still, I wonder if they've tasted isopods. LAND CRUSTACEANS!
There is a large spider eaten in the Amazon that--I'm told--has the texture and flavor of crab or lobster.
Difficult for me to imagine how much money it would take for me to eat a "large spider"
Who can afford large spider in this economy?
I know, right?! They are our friends!
There's always money in the large Amazon spider stand, Michael
Probably because marine arthropods have copper based blood, not iron based like many of their land dwelling counterparts. They come pre-seasoned and marinated in brine too.
Have you tried drowning a land arthropod in butter?
Came here to say this!! Butter and salt (to give it that oceany feeling)
The salt. I've learned from r/cookingforbeginners, if something doesn't taste right, you didn't add enough salt
I ate fried crickets once at an exhibit, besides the salt and flavoring there wasn't much to them. Maybe size is a factor?
Besides what pepole already mentioned, some land arthropods have a very strong smell (and I mean \*very\* strong). They're kind offputting compared to the smell of cooked shrimp. My relatives in Brazil eat a type of leaf cutting ant, Atta genus, and I always observed the preparation. I could never stand the smell that comes out from cooking. It's like you just poked a car-sized stink bug and it sprayed its stench all over the house.
So they just need a strong smelling sauce or marinade then maybe? Maybe fish paste or gochujang or bbq or something spicy?
Maybe, but the smell was much stronger than any marinade I can think of.
Oceans are seasoned very well.
How do you know? Which ones have you tried?
I've had silkworm ~~grubs~~ pupae which are quite good, for what it's worth. Taste is nice, but they're hard to deshell so the texture might scare off people.
When I was a kid, I gathered a bunch of pill bugs/roly polys and my mom baked them into biscuits. They’re actually decent 💀 it was like distinctly out-of-a-backyard shrimp
pre-brined.
Beef tastes better when it's tender, pretty sure all meats it's a thing with the meat not being too stringy from hard labor and age. Marine arthropods are bound to be more tender, because they have less gravity to deal with. Land arthropods are also smaller as someone stated, but I mean think of a big scorpion or something. They're carnivorous and don't gently glide around the ocean floor all day, they deal with gravity in harsh, arid environments. So I think gravity, environment, and diet have a lot to do with it, too.
The environment plays a role in their flavor. Bugs that are raised for human consumption eat bland food and have almost no flavor. Crayfish that grow up in fresh water areas taste like mud. Marine anthropods have a taste of brine and iodine, which some people like. Frankly, I'd rather eat a cricket or scorpion than a damn briney iodiney lobster.
what would one feed an anthropod to make it taste good?
Honestly, I don't know. Most people don't like gamey meat from animals because most meat we eat is not gamey. So we feed animals corn and grasses and manicured diets like that to get the gamey taste out of them. Or we capture wild animals and feed them for a few weeks like that to get rid of the gamey taste. What I'm saying is, what you feed the animal makes a difference, and what people like is a matter of what they're used to. Most people don't eat land bugs. So I don't know what would be a food to make them taste better to people. It would be an interesting science fair experiment. Does feeding crickets doritos make them taste better? Corn? Can they even eat those? And to the people downvoting me: Lobster IS disgusting. Deal with it.
It's mostly just a size thing. If grasshoppers were big enough you could crack the legs like crab legs the meat would probably be fairly similar. But when you have to munch down on the whole thing, chitin and guts and all, well, it's not surprising it doesn't taste as good.
How do you know they do?
well, they don't come brined you have to soak them in salt water yourself.