Searching for earthworm recipes is not the most fruitful enterprise. Turns out though, that if you use the French term – ‘avec ver de terre’ – you have slightly more success! And it sounds really fancy.

After some extended experimentation with her team of chefs, Deliento founder Lucy Martin thinks she has the answer. The beetles have a “savoury, slightly salty taste,” she tells BUGSfeed, that goes perfectly with Parmesan – and thus the Parmajune Thin was created.

This is an adapted version of Randall Creasey’s recipe, from the That’s So Primal blog. 

The blog is about ‘paleo’ cooking, which is, broadly speaking, a diet that cuts out grains, legumes and processed food, and is usually quite high in protein. Silkworms, he points out, are a great meat substitute, as they contain a very high level of protein.

Dreamt up by the ‘Culinologist’ team at US-based Culinex, this recipe was joint winner in an edible insect competition last year. ‘Pickled Pupae & Olive Chèvre Toasts with Mint’ certainly doesn’t sound like a quick 'n' easy dish, but we were drawn in by their pickling technique (and great images).

In present times we know quite a bit related to the gastronomic habits of the ancient Nuragic people of Sardinia. We know for sure that at the time when they inhabited my native island, hunting bees for honey was a dangerous, but a common practice, though reserved to men.

Nuragic people also collected wild herbs, and they were also able to apply evolved gastronomic techniques such as smoking, baking, or boiling. In some areas of Sardinia like Bargagia and Gallura, Sardinians still keep a dish alive: latuka e mele (lettuce and honey) – a dish that has been part of our heritage for more than 3000 years.

Recently, my friend Andreas Johnsen premiered his new documentary BUGS at the Tribeca Film Festival. I was planning an ice cream social for the same day, and my friend Aaron suggested we make bugs ice cream in honor of Andreas’s film.

I talked with Andreas and he was excited by the idea, so he arranged for his friend JC Redon to bring fresh escamoles from Mexico. We planned a gathering for bug ice cream cranking & tasting on the popular High Line in New York City.

Escamoles are the larvae of ants that live under Agave roots, and they are very popular in Mexico City. JC specializes in farming and cooking these delicious little treats. I was dubious about his ability to bring 10kg of escamoles through customs, but the JFK officials gave him no trouble and didn’t even need to see his papers.

The infamous casu marzu, a Sardinian cheese notable for its live larvae content, is a sought-after delicacy on the island – especially given that it’s illegal to sell it.

The waxworms in these cookies take on a pleasantly thick texture much like the raisins we expect in oatmeal cookies, and a mild, sweet flavor.

Waxworms absorb fewer flavors when baked than when cooked, so I chose to use waxworms raised on honey and cinnamon for half of the cookies. My friends and I thought these tasted the best, but we’re not unbiased. I intend to follow up with blind tastings.

Fermentation, an ancient technology, is enjoying popularity as a food trend – not least for the health benefits of eating the ‘good’ bacteria found in foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and yoghurt.

The DIY side of it is regularly mentioned, with live yoghurt or sourdough starters increasing in popularity. With fermented vegetables, such as sauerkraut, it’s ridiculously easy to make at home: just “cabbage, salt and time”. Perhaps the most famous fermented food, though, is fish sauce. This potent condiment is a vital ingredient in many asian dishes, adding a rich umami-like flavour that bears little relation to its fishy smell in the bottle.

I cried the first time I saw a waxworm. I had just bought my first honeybee hive secondhand, and after a full year of classes, books, and prep I was so ready to clean that thing up and get started. When I got it home, I realised it was filled with the unmistakable long thin tubes of wax moth larvae. I should’ve known: the hive had been empty for a full year and I’d ‘bought’ it in barter for chickens, so there was no reason to expect excellency. Still, waxworms can be be a real problem, and they still show up in all three of my hives to this day.

Less than two years later, I grow waxworms in jars in my bedroom and wish I had more.  It turns out that beekeeping and eating insects pair quite well. Finding Waxmoth larvae isn’t such a sad waste of wax if you can start a new little colony of “land shrimp” as some call these delicacies. This summer I’m going to eat my drone larvae too, but that’s another story.