January 23: Chirp-Chirp

I ate a cricket today. Live, no. Real, yes. But, I did, in fact, eat a cricket. Forty-one years into my life I've manged to achieve the status of "bug-eater"; a status that most young more commonly achieve around my son's age - usually in the backyard and mostly out of curiosity. If you're wondering, yes, I allowed my son to eat one too...he liked 'em so much he had another (mostly just to gross out his sister)! So, how did this insect buffet come into play? My in-laws just returned from Orlando, and knowing my son's high regard for members of the Insecta, they brought him back some Crick-ettes. I guess they're available in 3 delicious flavors - we were blessed with the Bacon and Cheese variety. So, being the spiritual advisor of new opportunities that I've become these 3 short weeks into 2010, I lead off this little dining initiative to show my son that it was no big deal to eat a bug. What a role model I must be! I've heard many cultures find eating insects to be entirely acceptable, even delicacies in some places. And, even some scientists claim that eating insects can be healthy for you. But, I just can't see our family making this part of our recommended daily diet anytime soon. There was nothing to it...a bit pithy like a sunflower seed with the shell still on, but mostly it just disintegrated on first crunch. I'll also add that, luckily, the bacon and cheese flavoring strongly overwhelmed any bug taste that may regularly accompany these little fellas, otherwise I would have probably failed miserably in my attempt to be the brave leader of these festivities. In the end, I ate a bug and that's definitely something new for me. I can also look forward to sharing this story with my son's little friends in daycare, as, at that age, it's just this sort of thing that launches a little boy into legendary status in the eyes of his peers!