There's a fly in my soup

Sustainability and accessibility were the names of the game for this year’s 32nd annual Bug Buffet hosted by MSU in the SUB ballrooms. The buffet drew in a large crowd, nearing 550 people by the time I arrived, around 1 p.m. People from all around Bozeman showed up to try the bizarre dishes prepared by MSU chefs in association with MSU Culinary Services. All of the dishes were created from insects in one form or another.

There was “Three Sisters Soup” made with cricket powder and whole crickets that was extremely savory, but did have a crunch to it that made me hesitate before taking another bite. There were also sunchoke chips with crème fraiche and grasshoppers. A hazelnut cricket bread with a dab of salted ant butter added a sweeter taste to the variety of snacks. You might be asking, “How do they get butter from ants?” Have no fear— the butter was of the dairy variety with just a few crushed-up ant bodies mixed in. Tasted fine. For dessert, there were chocolate cricket brownies that were so good you wanted seconds.

Florence Dunkel, Ph.D, an associate professor in the MSU Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology and a co-coordinator of the Bug Buffet, described in detail the current environmental detriment our food industry has on the world. If people made a switch to an insect-based diet we could have a “2,600 percent decrease of water usage, 413 percent decrease in food consumed, and at least a 20 percent decrease in greenhouse gas output.” Dunkel was extremely happy with how the buffet turned out and remarked on how extraordinary the improvements had been from previous years. Humorously recounting the story of the group’s humble beginnings, Dunkel shared that, “There were only a few of us then all gathered around a frying pan with butter in it. We cooked a mound of grasshoppers about…” She then pantomimed a roughly 10-inch cube.

Within minutes of the event’s start, a line stretched all the way out of the ballroom and around the corner into the main hallway of the SUB. Bozeman public schools and MSU clubs and classes all turned out in droves to try the buffet.

Holly Hunt, Ph.D, an associate professor in the MSU Department of Health and Human Development and a co-coordinator of the project, shared that insect food options will soon be coming to on-campus dining. She said that will be “definitely within two years, easily, but probably more likely we’ll see it within one.” In addition, public high schools around Montana have agreed to take steps to introduce insect options into their own menus. It seems that the event has achieved massive success in its mission. If eating insects is what it takes to save the planet, we can thank the efforts of both Dunkel and Hunt.