Witchety grubs?

[JumpedAngel]

Its just cultural indoctrination I think, a lot of the easiest bush survival foods are bugs, when you think about eating earth worms or termites and ants then your stomach goes all fuzzy, but then you think about oysters , mussles and clams in a different way???, frankly I used to enjoy sheeps brains but you try and feed it to a kid who grew up on smiths crisps and see if you dont get put up on child abuse charges. Some people cant even stomach sea bugs (crabs, prawns and even lobster) go figure.

[Thomas B]

I've had a grass tree grub once, looks like a witchetty grub tastes like a cashew. I found it underneath the plant after I broke off the old spike as a walking stick, so I think, but I'm not sure, that they come from inside the old spikes. Also, small tasty witchetty grub like things were under all the Bulbine semibarbarata on top of Mt Exmouth in the Warrumbungles. I didn't dig them up, some hikers had knocked them over and the roots were infested. Does anyone else know about these. I thought they might eat the bulbs as they grow. A potential bushfood pest?

[eataust]

Soft things I'm ok. Crunchy things with legs I'm not so ok with (or even crunchy without legs, such as bikkies and chips, so I guess I'm consistent :) ).

I haven't eaten a witchetty grub, although I was fairly confident the things I found in the blackwattle we had to chop down were the correct thing ... but Id cheerfully eat them cooked and unmoving.

(Yes, I know technically oysters are alive ... but they don't move when you eat them ... ).

[Greg]

Hi, Greg here.
My first post and pleased this topic has been raised, albeit initially 2 yrs ago. I'm setting up an aquaponics system, but am trying to grow the 'feed' myself. Yesterday I bought my first frozen 'bardi' (vardju?, aborigingal) to trial on my Murray cod. Unlike the central Aust grubs which infest the acacia roots, these eat River Red Gum (E. camaldulensis) roots on the Campaspe River where I live. All these grubs seem to be larvae of large moths. Mine, I think, are Trictena and Abantiades species.
The family of native beetles called Longicorns, also have an edible larvae which bore large holes into eucalypt species (my general observation), but seems less accessible
From my observations disecting this morning, Bardies/whitchetties are oily, and, importantly, guys, I think all of them have a parasitic worm inside. I extracted one entire hair-like 'worm', but until I receive my microscope and do a lot more reading, I can't definitively state they're worms, parasitic or otherwise. I'll happily eat anything. But these I'd only eat well cooked.
Sorry for the long initial post. I promise not to subject you to this again.

[roughbarked]

Thanks Greg.

Yes most people are unaware that simply washing vegetables isn't always enough to save them from what they are about to ingest.

Parasites are something to fear.

Humans learned to cook things a long time back and cooking has been both good and bad but a good cook is surrounded by healthy people.

[eataust]

Heh. A good reason to NOT have tested the nice white wriggles I found.

Mind you, not all worms are cross-species ... a grub larvae worm, whilst ingested by humans, might just turn into further protein for that human, rather than turn into some 'orrible and evil. However, the only reason I suggest (and it's suggest, not state definitively) it is that one reason people don't like to eat 'roo is "it's full of worms!!!", and the response I've read from sensible people is "those roos don't cross to humans".

That response might be too generalised to be useful, or it might be utterly incorrect, or it might be correct. I don't know. I just raise it as a discussion point ;)

[roughbarked]

Not all things transfer to hiumans .. this is true.

However.. It is always better to err on the side of knowledge.