Many larvæ of insects, and especially of beetles, are eaten in
different parts of the world.
The grub of the palm weevil (_Cordylia palmarum_), which is the size
of the thumb, has long been in request in the East and West Indies.
The natives of Surinam roast and eat them as something exquisite.
In Jamaica, where it is known as the grou-grou worm, I have seen it
eaten commonly. A grub named _Macauco_ is also there in request at the
principal tables. It is eaten both by whites and blacks, who empty,
wash, and roast them, and find them delicious. A similar insect is
dressed at Mauritius, and eaten by all classes.
An old writer--Brookes, _On the Properties and Uses of Insects_, 1772,
says--‘They are eaten by the French, in the West Indies, after they
have been roasted before the fire, when a small wooden spit has been
thrust through them. When they begin to be hot, they powder them with a
crust of rasped bread, mixed with salt, and a little pepper and nutmeg.
This powder keeps in the fat, or at least, sucks it up; and when they
are done enough, they are served up with orange juice. They are highly
esteemed by the French, as excellent eating.’
The larva, or grub, of one of the species of beetles which infest
cocoa-nut trees, is called _Tucuma_, or _Grugou_, in British Guiana.
It is about two or three inches long, and three-quarters of an inch in
diameter, and the head is black. They are reckoned a great delicacy
by wood-cutters and epicures of the country, and they are generally
dressed by frying them in a pan. By some they are preferred in a raw
state, and after seizing them by the black head, they are dipped in
lime-juice, and forthwith swallowed.
The late Mr. J. C. Bidwell, a botanist, travelling in Australia,
states--‘I never before tasted one of the large grubs, which are a
favourite food of the blacks. They are about four inches long, and
about as thick as a finger. They inhabit the wood of the gum-trees. I
had often tried to taste one, but could not manage it. Now, however,
hunger overcame my nausea. It was very good, but not as I had expected
to find it--rich; it was only sweet and milky.’
Sir Robert Schomburgk writes:--‘The decaying woods of the West India
islands, the Central and some of the southern portions of America,
afford a delicacy to the Indian, which many colonists do not even
refuse, in the larvæ of a large beetle, which is found in considerable
numbers in the pith, when the trunk is near its decay. The larva, or
grub, is frequently of the size of the little finger; and, after being
boiled or roasted, resembles in its taste beef marrow. The Indians
of Guiana frequently cut down the Mauritia palm, for the purpose of
attracting the beetle to deposit its eggs in it, and when they collect
a large quantity, they are roasted over a slow fire, to extract the
fat, which is preserved in calabashes.
The Roman epicures fattened some of these larvæ, or grubs, on flour.
Some naturalists think that the grubs of most of the beetles might
be safely eaten; and that those of the cockchafer, which feeds upon
the roots of grass, or the perfect insects themselves, which, if we
may judge from the eagerness with which cats, and turkeys and other
birds devour them, are no despicable morsel, might be added to our
food delicacies. This would certainly be one means of keeping down the
numbers of these occasionally destructive animals.
The Goliath beetles are said to be roasted and eaten by the natives of
South America and Western Africa, and they often make a _bonne bouche_
of splendid insects which would gratify many an entomologist. Although
the large prices of £30, £40, or £50, which used to be asked for them,
are now very much reduced, fine specimens of some of the species even
now fetch five to six pounds for cabinet specimens.
The Australian aborigines are gourmands in their way, and able to
appreciate the good things which surround them. Mr. Clement Hodgkinson
in a work on Australia says:
‘Bellenger Billy amused me very much by his curious method of diving
to the bottom of the river in search of cobberra, the large white
worms resembling boiled maccaroni, which abound in immersed wood. He
swam to the centre of the river with a tomahawk in his hand, and then
breathing hard that his lungs might be collapsed, he rendered his body
and tomahawk specifically heavier than water, and sank feet foremost
to the bottom. After groping about there for some moments, he emerged
on the river’s edge, with several dead pieces of wood, which he had
detached from the mud. Although I had tasted from curiosity various
kinds of snakes, lizards, guanas, grubs, and other animals which the
blacks feed upon, I never could muster resolution enough to try one of
these cobberra; although, when I have been engaged in the survey of
salt-water creeks, and I felt hot and thirsty, I have often envied the
extreme relish with which some accompanying black could stop and gorge
himself with this moist, living marrow.’
The women of Turkey cook and eat a certain beetle (_Blaps sulcata_) in
butter to fatten themselves.