Edible Pests

Crawling, buzzing and swarming aren’t qualities most of us associate with gastronomic pleasure.  But as bed bugs and roaches continue to bite through New York City’s attractions there is a nutritional way of dealing with the cities pests.

“Most of the world already eats insects,” Professor Arnold van Huis points out in a recent Observer article. Not reserved for game show challenges or that authentic hunter-gather weekend upstate, the benefits of eating bugs is being considered by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as a serious solution to the increasing world food shortage.

Here are the best places in NYC to exterminate these pests one mouthful at a time.

• GALAXY GLOBAL EATERY, 15 Irving Place

Oaxacan Soft Tacos with Lemon Spiced Grasshoppers $10.95

• LA PALAPA, 77 St Marks Pl

Crepas de Huitlacoche $11.95

Huitlacoche (corn fungus a.k.a corn ‘smut’) has long been considered a pest by farmers who found the fungus destroying corn crops. Eaten as a paste, a good vegetarian alternative.

• BLUE RIBBON RESTAURANT, 97 Suillivan Street

Pigeon, toasted barley, sweet potato and apple $29.50

Technically vermin, the ones on the menu here are a far superior pest.

• SMALL STOCK FOODS LLC

Suppliers of food derived from insects. Party catered for 10 guests, $30 per person. Includes crickets, large ants, scorpions and cockroaches.

• THE EXPLORER’S CLUB, The Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Ave, 20^th March 2010.

Individual Member’s ticket  $375, Intergalactic Table $40,000

Annual Dinner where 2009’s dishes included honey soy Tarantulas and potato soufflé filled with muscoid larvae and pupae.