@futurebird tiny tree, or gi-ant?

@Tattie

Yes.

@futurebird a friend is visiting Medellin, Colombia, sent me this yesterday.

@alper

OMG.

(Those are queens, some people eat them, I didn't know they were considered an aphrodisiac too. )

@alper

I kind of wish people wouldn't eat ants, however I have never had two pounds of fat-bottmed queen ants fall on my farm, and been aware that they could each set up a nest that could destroy an orchard OR I could fry them and have what everyone claims is a delicious snack.

Poor girls.

But also respect for dealing with an agricultural pest in this way... and if people want to eat them?

They won't use sprays that could kill other more rare ants.

So in the the end munch away I guess.

@futurebird @alper I'm a big fan of crickets and grasshoppers. With a Sriracha mayo and garlic.

@quinn @futurebird
I used to see articles saying bugs are the future protein source. I vaguely remember that we couldn't digest chitin. Can we? Or did we find some artificial enzymes?

@alper @quinn

The exoskeleton isn't most of the bug... I think the muscle tissue and fat is what contains the calories and nutrition. We can't digest cellulose either but eat a lot of it with vegetables.

Now... I don't eat any bugs. And probably never will. But that's just "cultural" as in I don't get it, and it makes me sad.

But, they are highly nutritious. And some of them taste good. (enough people claim this I believe them.)

@futurebird @quinn
I agree. Cultural. It may change. I remember my first snail, luckily deliciously made, in Greece. So it didn't leave me with a bad memory.

@alper @quinn

I mean I love lobster and crayfish so it's really just a learned thing.