Introduction: Challenge Accepted
I still vividly remember the recess that defined the rest of another kid’s elementary school career – at least in my eyes. He had voluntarily eaten a worm, and instead of doubling down and saying all was well, he cried. I think was more the lack of decoration to the act than the actual worm-eating that labelled him a worm eater.
I was later introduced to the term entomophagy (pronounced en-toh-MAH-fuh-jee) – eating bugs – at a STEM event for women. The speaker was very passionate about entomophagy. Unlike the poor kiddo from elementary school, she was very confident about her bug-eating. We ended the evening with a dessert that featured cricket flour. It was delicious.
I have brought up the idea of a bug-themed dinner party before, and my sisters were not into it whatsoever. As siblings do, I took this as a challenge. My goal was to get them to eat bugs and enjoy eating bugs. I was fairly confident going in, as despite the taboo here, many cultures around the world enjoy eating bugs.
So the task at hand is to create a pretty, bug-themed dinner party – perfect for the springtime!
The Decor: The Birds and the Bees
As I mentioned before in our Silent Library Dinner Party, I am often grossed out enough with the day-to-day parenting of my little girl. So, for decor, we will be leaning into the springtime aspect of this theme. I found a couple of fake birds from the dollar store and a bouquet for the table. The table runner and placemats were also dollar-store pickups, so even buying all of these new, it came out to around $20.
I folded the napkins into little birds nests and placed a couple of chocolate eggs inside with the bird perched on top. I think they came out really cute! Other things I added to the table were a small glass snail my grandmother had given me and a couple of small bowls to hold some gummy worms and extra crickets.
Weather permitting, this would be an excellent meal to do outside. However, it’s still too cold and mushy out here, so we feasted indoors.
The Menu: Chirp and Slurp
My approach with this menu was the same as a parent trying to hide vegetables in their toddler’s food. You don’t want it to be recognizable, and if they do recognize it, you want them to think it’s cool.
We were very open about serving bugs. In general, you should be transparent about what you put in the food you serve. People with shellfish allergies often have allergic reactions to insects, so I would recommend checking in with your guests beforehand.
We went with Julie’s pollinator mocktail from Inspiration Apron, but I subbed the gingerale for regular sparkling water. The appetizer was inspired from this Ladybug Caprese. It could have probably been featured on “Nailed It”, it was very tasty.
I made this delicious slow-cooker spaghetti sauce as our first cricket vessel. We mixed in cricket protein powder we ordered from Amazon. Our side was a very interesting cricket Caesar salad, where, you guessed it, we replaced croutons with crickets. Whereas the sauce hid the cricket flavour, it was quite a bit more upfront with the Caesar salad. Our dessert was vanilla ice cream with Oreo crumble and gummy worms.
We ordered all of the crickets off of Amazon from Entomo Farms. I would have probably subbed out the chili lime flavour of crickets we purchased for the cinnamon sugar ones and featured it as part of the dessert.
Final Thoughts: Was it Worth It?
Yes, absolutely! I admit that I spent far longer than I should have trying to find insects to purchase online at a reasonable price. If I were to do a redo, I would have cut my losses sooner and focused on another element. Insect trivia would have been a fun addition. Regardless, it was a fun night filled with lots of laughs.
And as for the reception – it was very mixed. One sister was horrified and refused to eat any bugs, whereas the other had everyone trying the crickets on the table before we even got started.
I was so preoccupied with feeding my daughter that I didn’t take a single picture of the actual meal. I invite you to use your imagination. Feel free to be generous in doing so, as I was the chef this time, when that’s usually my husband’s job. And no, I didn’t feed my daughter any crickets. Why? I’m not entirely sure, but it probably had something to do with the disgusted reaction from my sister.
Gifts for Your Host: Something to Bee Happy About!
If someone has beaten you to the punch and you find yourself on the receiving end of a bug-themed dinner party, honey would make a very sweet gift.
Alternatively, when that very confident bug-eating woman finished her speech at the event I was at, she was gifted a donation to an organization dedicated to helping our little friends. This always stood out to me as a thoughtful gift, so a donation to the Save the Bees foundation would also be an excellent option.
