Museum’s crawl-you-can-eat
NewOrleans insectarium gives curious visitors a bite of some bugs
new orleans » The menu includes crickets and wax worms on toothpick skewers for dipping in a fountain of melted chocolate, along with “tarsal toffee” made with bug legs and mealworms and fudge infused with crickets and marshmallows.
What looked like a Halloween trick was an array of treats being served up Saturday at theAudubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium inNewOrleans.
The 23,000-square-foot facility is the largest free-standing museum in theUnited States dedicated to insects. It houses thousands of live bugs, including beetles, cockroaches, wasps, bees, ants and termites.
Insect-infused cuisine is also a huge draw. Thousands annually visit the museum’s Bug Appetit kitchen, where six-legged critters and worms are cooked and served. There is a Tiny Termite Cafe with bug-free foods for the less-adventurous eaters.
“We get every range of reaction in here,” said Zack Lemann, the museum’s animal and visitor programs manager. “There are peoplewho come here knowing about Bug Appetit, and they come to eat the bugs. We also have peoplewho have trepidation and anxiety. Some just won’t try it.”
The chocolate-infused bug farewas being offered as a special “treat” alongside the museum’s year-round offerings of chocolate “chirp” cookies — made with, yes, crickets— sugared wax worms and spicy Cajun crickets.
“I wish I could get her to eat vegetables like she eats bugs,” saidValRussell of her 8-year-old daughter, Porter, who ate three chocolate-dippedwaxworms.