"Bugs Bugs Bugs" by Michael Sarver via flickr under a Creative Commons license.

You know people eat insects.  Sure!  They eat them all the time in [insert name of exotic country that you've never been to], you’ve seen that daredevil Bear Grylls do it on every episode of Man Vs. Wild, and there was the time you were double dared in seventh grade science lab during the mealworm experiment.  But, did you know there were a wide range of cook books just on how to prepare bugs as dinner?

Here is a rundown of some of the ones they have at my local library:

The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook by David G. Gordon.  It includes thirty-three ways to cook grasshoppers, ants, water bugs, spiders, centipedes, and other insects.

Therese Littleton writes in her review, “The Eat a Bug Cookbook is a sure kitchen conversation piece–even if you never try Three Bee Salad or Chocolate Cricket Torte, you’ll laugh out loud, squirm uncomfortably, and lick your chops while taking this deliciously creepy culinary tour.”

Gordon provides tips for which insects to eat and which to avoid (hmmm, maybe I’m just not Anthony Bourdain enough to seek out insects for food so I avoid them all…) and has a companion title called The Compleat Cockroach.

Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio.

The authors of this book traveled to thirteen different countries to sample insect cuisines and report back on the science of entomophagy, the eating of insects.  They have included recipes for dishes such as Witchetty Grub Dip, Simple Scorpion Soup, and Stink Bug Pâté.

Menzel and D’Aluisio fill the book with interesting and wonderfully shot photographs.  They are the awesome team behind a favorite book of mine titled Hungry Planet – which is a captivating photo essay of the food of the world.

Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects by Julieta Ramos-Elorduy.

This is another presentation of the argument for insects as food because of their dense, complete protein content. It is a collection of mostly indigenous recipes, in this case mostly from Mexico.

This book also contains the photographs of Peter Menzel, who co-authored Man Eating Bugs, and I guess is a guy who gets around the authoring-insect-cookbooks circuit.

Verdict: Check them out.

Personally, I think these books are fascinating even if I don’t want to chow down on mealworms and crickets.  Menzel’s photography is always interesting and beautiful and the topic of cooking insects is still an interesting topic, even in our post Fear Factor and Man Vs. Wild world.

Other insect cookbooks include Bug-a-licious by Meish Goldish, a children’s book; Butterflies in my stomach: or, Insects in human nutrition by Ronald L. Taylor; and Entertaining with Insects: or, The original guide to insect cookery by Ronald L. Taylor and Barbara J. Carter.