You know March Break must be around the corner when the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory starts serving up treats that feature all kinds of creepy crawlies as the main ingredient. March Break means it’s BugFeast time, and this year to help make eating insects easier to swallow, they’re being baked, dipped and drizzled in chocolate!
“BugFeast is one of our most popular events of the year!” says Andalyne Tofflemire, Naturalist and Conservatory Manager at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. “Many visitors return year after year to enjoy the different tasty bug recipes that we create.”
While most North Americans think the notion of eating bugs is gross, for much of the rest of the world insects are a popular food source. “There are a lot of merits to eating insects,” says Tofflemire. ”They’re a sustainable source of protein and other important nutrients.”
During BugFeast at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, visitors can try 3 ‘bugtastic’ food samples that will be available. How about a Chocolate “chirp” cookie made with cricket flour? Perhaps some white chocolate bark with roasted ants? Or, try one of their milk chocolates with an added cricket – to give it just the right amount of crunch!
Along with eating chocolate covered bugs, visitors to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory can stroll through the tropical rainforest to take in over 1000 free-flying butterflies, a variety of birds, cascading waterfalls, and over 150 varieties of tropical plants. Guests also have the opportunity to meet other tropical insects like Malaysian jungle nymphs and thorny devil stick bugs.
While BugFeast is a fun event because of its ‘ick’ factor, it’s also an opportunity to educate visitors about entomophagy, a fancy name for eating insects.
“Farming insects for human consumption is a sustainable form of food production with a very low carbon footprint, “says Tofflemire. “Meat requires much more land and water for the production process. That’s why we say Save the Planet – Eat a Bug!”