Eating outside the shell.

Statutory warnings:
- This post is not to hurt any religious or personal sentiments.

- I am not a distributer of edible insects.

- I am not responsible for any husbands collecting worms from the backyard when asked to shop at the supermarkets while their soccer match is about to commence.

- I do not know any wives joining pest control firms for their romantic dinner meal.

- Last but not the least, It is great to hear Scorpions Live, but dangerous to play with live scorpions. 

The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world. Ám not that man who Oscar Wilde described, but this city, Disraeli's modern Babylon always surprised me. And again it did on Thursday, the 15th of August 2013. The day my Motherland was celebrating her 67th Independence day from the British, same day, here in London Rentokil was celebrating its 85th year in the business of pest control.

A week back from the tweets and shares from the social networking spirits and news sources I was getting a vague idea of how the celebration is going to be.

Even though I got delayed with the Hammersmith and city, central and district lines I was just in time before the London workers came to swap their lunchtime sandwiches to try Cricket. Not the gentleman's game I am talking about, but Acheta domestica - the insect. World's first 'pop up pestuarant' was set up in the City of London overlooking the St. Pauls Cathedral serving Barbecue Mealworms, Toasted Scorpions, Moth Caterpillars, chocolate-dipped Ants and house crickets. 

I had my hands on every bowls kept, from starters, the main course and finished off with some chocolate coated ants and moths as dessert. I returned back to my home, thanking Rentokil for the wonderful adventurous experiment with some exotic dishes, while the queue for tasting was growing up like one in the old Nokia snake game. 

Like any other social networking homo sapiens I 'Facebooked' some of the cuisine shots that I captured at the venue and the free goodies and samples that I collected from there. (Of course for the four holy returns, 'likes, comments and shares and RTs'). I cannot be blamed. Natural instinct of  an FB-Sapien. The sprinkle of holiness was very minuscule from over 1500 friends and acquaintances, that I have on the Zukerberg's product which drilled me into three conclusions; 1. They became jealous 2. They missed the post 3. They have freaked out.

After thorough research with the reactions and comments and with the help of Duckworth-Lewis method the selected result was the third one. 'Have you tried these?, You are out of your mind, How can you eat that stuff? Please Spare these harmless creatures (harmless? I thought lambs, rabbits and calves were more harmless and cute).' where some of the reactions I got across. For a moment of time I thought I was on cloud number...uh! some number. Am I one among the highly adventurous bizarre foodies. I could hear sarcastic laughs following me from other parts of the world.

Basically from the southern state of India, Kerala (yes, we too wear Lungis, Huh! Thanks SRK), I have tried cuisines like tortoise, ant-eaters, mongoose, cranes and frogs from the state registered toddy (Palm wine) shops. I have seen people from the northern part of India frowning with disgusting looks. It took me ages to understand, that it is nothing but the lack of experimentation due to the fear / hatred caused by some social stigma, making the call. Science and technology have shrunk the world into our palm but still we remain in an invisible shell with religious or social or emotional coatings. It is not different for common dishes of Beef/Pork (even Garlic/ onions in some parts).  Hello Veggies, for you I present the Durian Fruit, with high nutritional values, is literally forbidden in many places. Pop into any Asian markets, break it open and try eating. They say it's odour has some similarities with sewage or rotten cabbage.

Like I said this post is just to encourage trying edible insect delicacies (United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organisation and Michelin Guide cannot go wrong) and I personally believe these as future's potentially valuable food source rich in protein, zinc, calcium and iron while also being low in fat. Carnivorous homo-sapien diets are not limited to chicken, pork or mutton, similarly herbivorous can go beyond dals (pulses), tomatoes and methi (fenugreek) leaves. Omnivorous? Believe that there are lots of delicacies which may not be for everyone's taste. Remember those foods, whilst considered weird, exotic and bizarre to some of us, are considered normal delicacies in other countries.

Tail Piece:

No prizes for listing out your friends who argued on the benefits of cooked food started devouring Sushi & Sashimi recently. Prizes will be distributed by the couple who turned into Vampires after 13 years of eating blood pudding.