Are you willing to intentionally eat bugs?

• My Nikki Beach
• Should we own up to the idea that we’re already eating bugs?

We make a concerted effort in America to have cognitive dissonance when it comes to insects in our food. The Food and Drug Administration decided in 2009 that products containing extracts or color additives derived from bugs don’t have to disclose that they came from bugs. Consider the hubbub last week over Starbucks’ admission that its drinks are colored with red bugs, which are crushed to make cochineal extract.

But the truth is that we’re eating insect parts every day (click here for a list, but know that there’s no going back once you’ve clicked) – small, ground-up parts that we can’t see but are still eating … every … day. Our group decision to ignore that fact makes a story like NPR’s take on “bug buffets” in the Netherlands seem like a very foreign concept.

Admitting that there are bugs in our food supply is the first step, but are you willing to go whole grub and intentionally dine on insects?