I always love a good round of “Who’s Eaten the Grossest Thing.”
Because when it comes to gross novelty foods, not many people can top mosquito chip cookies. Which I have eaten.
And yes, they were delicious.
These cookies aren’t standard fare anywhere except the General Entomology class that I took at the University of Idaho years ago. During one of the final class periods, in which the oft-overlooked nutritional value of bugs was discussed, Professor Marc Klowden offered each of us one of his homemade mosquito chip cookies.
I ate one, of course, because you never know when another opportunity like that will come along. The cookie entered my mouth before I had a chance to think about what I was doing. It tasted surprisingly similar to a Sandies Praline Shortbread cookie. The mosquitos had no flavor or, if they did, the butter and sugar covered it up nicely -- though I have to admit, I didn’t exactly savor each bite. The only give away that these weren’t ordinary cookies were the dark flecks of mosquito bits.
The mosquitoes were collected from the science lab, so they were safe and humanely killed. We were also told they had been washed. As if somehow we were supposed to feel better about eating clean mosquitos rather than dirty ones.
That first bite was the most satisfyingly vindictive bite I’ve ever taken. The irritation of hundreds of mosquito bites I suffered over the years was somehow erased in that single moment. I finally had the chance to bite back.
