Some people bug out at the thought of eating insects. But for the members of the Explorers Club, creepy crawlies make tasty treats. The Explorers Club was founded in New York City in 1904. It promotes the study of land, sea, air and space. The club has about 3,000 members. They include polar explorers, deep-sea divers, astronauts and many daring eaters.
On March 15, the club held its 104th annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, in New York City. The event offered members an opportunity to honor the year's top researchers and explorers. It also gave guests a chance to stretch their culinary boundaries. Insects and other wild foods were served as appetizers.
Travis Nagiewicz, 11, who was at the event with his dad, ate a fried tarantula. "It tastes like a mozzarella stick," he told TIME FOR KIDS.
"I tried the strawberries with little maggots," said Jessica Kolomichuk, 9. Maggots are fly larvae. "They're actually still stuck in my teeth right now," she added.
As they travel the world, explorers eat the native foods of many cultures. Sometimes, they eat insects to survive. That's because insects are high in protein and contain vitamins and minerals. People around the world eat more than 1,400 kinds of insects, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In Mexico, street vendors sell fried grasshoppers. Crickets are a common snack in Indonesia.
Go Ahead, Give it a Try!Exploring Planet Ocean was the theme of this year's dinner. Awards were given to leaders in the field of ocean exploration. Eugenie Clark got the club's top prize. She is an ichthyologist (ick-thee-ahl-eh-jist), a scientist who studies fish. Known as "the Shark Lady," Clark has been studying shark behavior for more than 50 years.
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle helped organize the event. Her grandchildren came as guests. Earle told the crowd that it's important to encourage kids to be curious and to try new things.
So, does being adventurous begin with eating bugs? Alex Chmielinski, 11, thinks so, but he has his limits. He turned down the chance to eat cockroach-on-a-stick. "After a scorpion and a worm?" he said. "No thanks!"