The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook
The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook is a American cookbook published in 1998, written by David George Gordon and devoted entirely to insect recipes. It is an early example of popular writing about eating insects in the English-speaking world.
History
The book appeared in 1998, and its author, David George Gordon, arranged the recipes by the insect used. Each section also explains how to store the specimens before cooking, with crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, termites, ants and bees among the featured creatures.
Beyond the recipes, the book includes a reference list, a guide to where insects can be bought, and organisations that hold events where visitors can sample them. It also notes the amounts of insect parts that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits in everyday foods, such as peanut butter, frozen broccoli and tomato juice.
Culture
Its reception was largely favourable. A California Rare Fruit Growers review called it good value and encouraged more people to eat insects, while Discover magazine praised the recipes and the informative notes on arthropods. The book thus sits in the niche of popular insect cooking, a subject that appeals both to curious readers and to cooks looking for alternatives to meat.