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Grasshopper Ranches Can Save the Environment

The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook, by David G. Gordon

David G. Gordon explains why we should be eating bugs and talks about some of the recipes in his book, The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook: 40 Ways to Cook Crickets, Grasshoppers, Ants, Water Bugs, Spiders, Centipedes, and Their Kin.

About the Book:

For many Americans, eating a lowly insect is something you’d only do on a dare. But with naturalist and noted bug chef David George Gordon, bug-eating is fun, exciting, and downright delicious!
 
Now you can impress, enlighten, and entertain your family and friends with Gordon’s one-of-a-kind recipes. Spice things up at the next neighborhood potluck with a big bowl of Orthopteran Orzo—pasta salad with a cricket-y twist. Conquer your fear of spiders with a Deep-Fried Tarantula. And for dessert, why not try a White Chocolate and Wax Worm Cookie? (They’re so tasty, the kids will be begging for seconds!)
 
Today, there are more reasons than ever before to explore entomophagy (that’s bug-eating, by the way). It’s an environmentally-friendly source of protein: Research shows that bug farming reduces greenhouse gas emissions and is exponentially more water-efficient than farming for beef, chicken, or pigs. Mail-order bugs are readily available online—but if you’re more of a DIY-type, The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook includes plenty of tips for sustainably harvesting or raising your own.
 
Filled with anecdotes, insights, and practical how-tos, The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook is a perfect primer for anyone interested in becoming an entomological epicure.

The music in this program was written and performed by John Floridis.

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David G. Gordon
David G. Gordon and his wife Karen Luke Fildes

David George Gordon is the award-wining author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook and 18 other titles about orcas and gray whales, cockroaches, tarantulas, land snails and the Sasquatch. The New York Times called his Field Guide to the Slug “gripping.”

He’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, Time magazine and National Geographic Kids and appeared on Conan O’Brien, The Howie Mandel Show and The View. He’s spoken at the American Museum of Natural History, San Diego Zoo, California Academy of Sciences, Northwest Flower & Garden Show, MASS MoCA and many other venues.

As the Bug Chef, he’s shared his exotic cuisine with visitors to the Smithsonian Institution, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Yale University and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums in Hollywood, San Francisco and Times Square.

Chef Gordon and his wife Karen Luke Fildes, illustrator, enjoy leading week-long programs, weekend retreats and one-day workshops on writing and science illustration. They live in Seattle with Julie, Julia and Julio, their pet corydoras catfish.

Chérie Newman is a former arts and humanities producer and on-air host for Montana Public Radio, and a freelance writer. She founded and previously hosted a weekly literary program, The Write Question, which continues to air on several public radio stations; it is also available online at PRX.org and MTPR.org.
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