South Korea Moves Forward with Bug Eating Initiative

I would not want to be the taste tester for this job:

Grasshopper croquette served with mealworm coffee sherbet, beetle powder-crusted fried chicken, and sweet pumpkin porridge topped with dried cricket, pickled larva and assorted vegetables.

These are some of the recipes submitted to a government-hosted insect cooking contest late last month as South Korea experiments with the culinary potential of six-legged creatures.

The event was the latest of Seoul’s efforts to foster the insect industry as it searches for new sources of livestock and ways to help cash-strapped farms find new profit makers.

In 2010, the government announced the legislation of a special law aimed at fostering the insect industry, valued at 168 billion won (US$151 million) in 2011 and forecast to reach 298 billion won next year. (Yonhap)

You can read more at the link, but that sure is a lot of money being project to get people to eat bugs.