It’s a beautiful sunny day and you decide to go out back and get a little yard work done; okay, and maybe a little sun to boot.  

As you lean in to fight with a stubborn squatter weed; softly humming to tunes recently downloaded, you notice a heap of lumber in the back corner of the yard. 

You get up slowly and mosey over to investigate the intertwined woodwork more closely.  

“I really need to move this stuff”, you say, as you lift a rotting piece of wood and flip it over. 

As you do, out flies a winged wonder, presumably shouting a bug explicative to you for disrupting his peaceful day. 

With the movement of additional pieces of wood, a scurry of activity begins in the remaining timbers of what looks to be the home of a very large family, not just immediate family mind you, but extended family, and friends and friends of friends.  There must have been hundreds, no thousands of them.

“What the heck”, you say (or words to that affect – maybe it was heck, maybe it wasn't). 

“What are those little things?”  

Then as you exhale, you say … “ohhhhhhh noooooo.”

Oh yes.  Girly girl, you guessed it …they are termites!! 

Ewwww!  You scream as you race to the house and anxiously grab the phone to dial your friendly neighborhood Mr.Termite-a-tor!

But wait! 

Before you decide to destroy these little guys, let me share some things about them, and then you can decide whether to destroy them.

If you were in a disaster situation, those little “eat-me-outta-house-and-home” creatures and some of their creepy crawly friends can actually be your salvation for nutrition? 

In fact, termites have more protein than some meats!!  True. 

Bugs, insects, creepy-crawlies, or as we fondly refer to them as, “someone-come-and-get-this-thing”, can be a critical means of nourishment when placed in an event where there is little to no food.

In the United States we pay good money to have 'our little friends' removed from our homes and businesses.  In other Countries however, theses little squirmers are a welcome meal.  (I know …ewww!) 

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization for instance estimate that there are 1,400 species of insects and worms eaten in almost 90 countries. 

Including ours. 

“Not by me.” you say.   Yepper, by you. 

Let me share what we have been eating all along and didn't even know it.

The FDA allows certain levels of bugs to be present in various foods. Fact.

There are actually acceptable standards.  Let me give you an example. 

Here’s one.  It is acceptable to have up to 60% aphids in 3 ½ ounces of broccoli.  Gross huh?  Or, how about this one?  Two to three fruit fly maggots in 200 grams of tomato juice is okay too. (Conk to the head – I shouldda had a – nah)

Wait!  There’s more.  It’s acceptable to have 100 insect fragments in 25 grams of curry powder.  You’re dying now aren't you?  I've got more!  I’ll say them really, really fast.  74 mites in 100 grams of canned mushrooms … 13 insect heads in 100 grams of fig paste (I personally do not use fig paste nor do I have a clue what it is!), and lastly 34 fruit fly eggs in every cup of raisins (ah, so that’s the secret to good oatmeal raisin cookies, huh???)

Want to talk comfort food?  Peanut Butter has 30 insect fragments per 100 grams; Potato Chips 6% of pieces with rot; Ground Cinnamon: 11 rodent hairs per 50 grams (1.8 ounces) and Sesame Seeds: 5 mg rodent droppings per pound (455 grams).

So, ya see????  You've been eating bugs or bug pieces-parts all along and liking it! 

There’s nutritional value in bugs

Now, it should be noted, that there are also some insects we need to avoid. 

If you do find yourself in need of a good “survivor meal’ here’s a rule of thumb.  Avoid bugs like flies, mosquitoes and tick as they carry disease.  Also avoid centipedes and spiders as they are poisonous, and lastly bugs that have fine hair, bright colors or eight or more legs.
 
Oh, and just to ease your mind a little and should the good in these little fellows, many of those brightly colored cosmetic products we use - well - the color is obtained from crushed bugs.

That’s right, we put bugs on our face as too.

Ladies, we are half way there!
 
I mean look at it this way, we are already eating and using bugs every day!

  - Survivor Jane

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