What Do Live Cockroaches Taste Like?
WouterCockroaches are not a common staple food for many people, but in some cultures, they are eaten. They are often roasted or dehydrated and are even sold like popcorn at the cinema. They also have many medicinal uses in traditional Chinese medicine. Some say that they can cure a range of ailments, including asthma and dysentery. Some cultures even preserve them in oil and prepare them as a delicacy for weddings and other celebrations.
Although cockroaches are not very popular in the West, they are eaten in many Asian and African cultures. In Asia, they are eaten as a snack and as part of a traditional meal. In China, they are deep-fried as part of a meal alongside other insects such as crickets.
Interestingly, the bitterness of cockroaches serves as an alarm for their predators. It has even saved a cockroach population from exterminators. Dr Elli Leadbeater of the Institute of Zoology in London has shown that this trait is a product of natural selection. Cockroaches that have altered their taste receptor genes were able to avoid poisoned bait, while those that were left unchanged fell for the bait.
Cockroaches are not toxic, but they do carry pathogens that can cause food poisoning if they aren’t cooked properly. A 2010 study found that cockroaches and mosquitoes are linked to several deadly diseases. The two organisms can transmit typhus, yellow fever, and malaria.
